Titans A Force and the Yugioh Card Game
by Dakari-King Mykan
Summary: S2EP 25: A gang of street kids accidently unleash a swarm of Shadows that had been sealed away for 5,000 years, and are bent on consuimg the world in darkness and chaos. The Titans try to fight them, only to be stripped of their powers, and are left with only normal human bodies. They soon determine that the only way to stop the shadows is to play by their rules. It's time to duel
1. Unleash the Shadows

**CHAPTER ONE**

_Long, long ago… when the pyramids were still young…_

_Ancient kings and sorcerers played a game of great power- combining magic with monster in a battle for power and glory so fiercely that world was soon caped in the war of the shadow games! Chaos and destruction spread all across the world, until a brave a mighty pharaoh locked the dark magic away and cleansing the world of all of the darkness._

_Now five-thousand years later, all have forgotten about these dreaded shadow wars, but it is still believed that one day they will return to finish what they started five millennia ago._

_…_

"Beast Boy, come on! Make your move." Terra said impatiently.

Her husband snapped out of his trance "Sorry was just getting caught up in the drama. Anyways, Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth attacks you directly, Terra."

Beast Boy and Terra sure loved playing Duel Monsters. It was only the coolest game ever mad... according to Beast Boy, and it did keep them busy and gave Terra something to do. Now the baby was only expected in no more than a month.

Still, the other Titans didn't seem to be into it that much and were all playing scrabble at the table instead, and it was Starfire's turn. "Quidnunc?" asked Cyborg "Challenge!"

Starfire was confused.

"Quidnunc…?" Robin said "Star that sounds Tameranian."

"It is." Starfire admitted "On my world it describes one whom enjoys carnivorous appetites."

"Starfire, we told you… you can't use Tameranian words." Raven reminded her for the umpteenth time. However, when Copy-Cat checked the dictionary they were using, "It is here!"

"What?!" the others all asked in shock. "Give me that!" Cyborg snatched the book and saw it was real "Quidnunc: One whom enjoys gossip."

An awkward moment of silence happened, but nonetheless, Starfire got two triple-word scores, plus fifty points for using all her letters in that one turn, and because she was challenged and the others failed she got another turn. "There's goes my shot at the win." Cyborg sighed.

His victory wasn't the only one stolen. Beast Boy let out of shocked scream as Terra made a move in their game "And that brings your life points to zero." she said cockily. Beast Boy turned red as an overheated kettle, but it was just a game. "Good one, honey."

"Thanks…" she said and kissed softly.

"I would've beaten you if I had _him_ in my deck."

The other Titans knew what was coming; Beast Boy's quest to complete his deck. The game was more than just about playing and trading, it was about collecting. Beast Boy was a huge fan of the duel monsters card game and had been collecting for a long time trying to assemble a deck that he believed was like him.

Of all the kinds of monsters there were to make a special deck with, he liked the crystal beast cards because the represented some of the animals he could turn into. Copy-Cat examined the cards himself "Such distinguished art work in the painting. It amazes me."

"Yeah…" Beast Boy said "But my collection is nothing without this!" and he held up a picture of monster card called "Rainbow Dragon- The biggest bad boy of them all. If I can just find him… my quest will be at an end, and I can stand on top and tell all the people… _"My crystal beast deck is complete!"_

Raven flicked his ear bringing him back into reality. "We've heard this story enough times." she complained. "It's just a card game, and don't give us all that Ancient Egypt stuff again."

The card game was made in Japan, but Beast Boy and also Terra were convinced that the Egyptian legends of the game were real. They just had no absolute proof, and sometimes they did think of letting go of the whole thing and focus on the day their baby would arrive, but also for the doctor to call with new results.

After Terra's recent examination, something seemed different that hadn't been noticed before without a proper exam. Now the results were due any time.

"Nothin' to do but wait…" Cyborg said.

"And make the most of it." Robin said.

…

Meanwhile, in town, three adolescent males were on the run from the cops after a simple shoplifting- not much of a job for the Titans to get involved.

These punk kids ran all through town to get away from the cops, finally outwitting them by escaping into the sewers where they wouldn't be found. "That was close guys, way too close!"

"Next time they may get us for sure."

One of the other punks just wanted to get back to their hideout quickly. So they all took a route down the sewer way and emerged in an alley up town where they could safely move out in the open. Then they noticed the museum was just across the street and a new shipment was coming in for a new Egyptian exhibit. "Check it out."

They saw a whole bunch of Egyptian artifacts and treasures being unloaded. All that stuff had to be worth millions, or even billions. There was even a gigantic tomb being unloaded by the movers, with ancient writing inscribed on the stone, and an odd looking symbol.

"Look at that! It must be some kind of giant treasure chest."

"Or it could be… oh… a mummy's sarcophagus."

The punks decided that they'd go and try and steal some of that loot and maybe hold it up for a hefty ransom. "Yeah…! Then we could finally shake of this rotten gutter life and hit the big heights."

The movers were heading out to lunch and a break, but the museum guards promised to take care of everything. "I've got an idea." said one of the punks, and the crept along making their ways to where the guards were, and managed to knock them all out cold. "Too easy…"

Now they were all free to move and take whatever treasures there were, but they had to move fast. One of the punks insisted they open the giant sarcophagus. "Uh… do you really think that's a good idea?"

"Do you want to be a street punk all your life?"

"Well no, but I…"

"Then let's hurry!"

All the punks tried their hardest, but the lid didn't seem to budge an inch. "Man, what's with this thing?"

"Keep trying!"

Suddenly, the box began to vibrate, and the large symbol on it began glowing. "Whoa…!" What's happening?"

That's when black and purple smoke hissed from under the lid and blasted it right off as several glowing and evil shapes of dark light escaped from the tomb howling and laughing evilly as the flew around all over the place and then just scattered off all at once in the same direction. Then they were gone, and the punks were so frightened out of their wits that they ran for their lives, right to the police station and begged to be locked up where they felt I would be safer.

If only they had known what they had just done, they probably would never have tried to go anywhere near that tomb.

That night, while a young teenage boy slept peaceably in his bed while clutching a duel monsters card deck in bed with him; He suddenly heard a low hissing which woke him up. "Who's there?" he asked nervously, but upon seeing no one was there he merely dismissed a felt it was just the wind blowing through his apartment window. He got up and crossed over to close it, still clutching his cards, but suddenly a dark a spooky creature with glowing red eyes appeared right outside his window and gazed at him. The boy gasped, dropped his cards, and before anyone knew it... his scream had echoed through the neighborhood.

His parents burst in through the door to find their son out of bed way past his bed time, and acting very strangely! He acted like he was in some sort of trance, and before long had blasted his folks with a strange magic knocking them completely unconscious, and then he actually leapt out the window and into the night.


	2. Monsters in the Darkness

**_Author's notes:_**

**_I should point out that none of the Yugioh characters will appear in the fic. It's just the Titans playing the game. That's why it's a crossover._**

**CHAPTER TWO**

Beast Boy awoke the next morning, and pecked his wife on her head. Terra smiled warmly as she stirred awake. "How are you feeling?" he asked tenderly. "Fat and clumsy." his wife replied as she rubbed her stomach. "The sooner this kid is born the better."

Beast Boy agreed and then got out of bed to open the curtains, but when he did was he ever surprised. "Dude…!" he cried. It was still dark outside, but not like night. The skies were clouded with some sort of extremely dark and eerie smog that swirled in dark colors and casual strikes of lightning. Across the water, the city looked so dark he could barely make out the shapes of the buildings.

"What's happened?" Terra asked in shock as she gazed outside.

The got out of their bedroom and headed for the lounge where they found the others were there and well aware of what was happening, but they didn't what was causing it and why. Robin and Cyborg tried the computers, but the satellite signals couldn't get through the smog. "Even the TV signals were messed up, but they were still able to tune into the news by radio.

The newsman said the mysterious smog was baffling everyone, but to make matters worse, several children were reported missing from their homes and according to eye witnesses were seen running about town and causing more darkness, and were aided by unusual monsters that seemed to materialize out of thin air. Hospitals were packed with numerous patients all suffering from the same state. They were found collapsed and looking pale, in coma-like states. Doctors found their heart-rates fine, and their brain activity high, but they were not conscious at all.

"I think we need to do a little investigating." Robin said. "Beast Boy, you stay here and watch over Terra."

Beast Boy nodded, and soon the other Titans headed out. Terra sighed heavily as she sat down on the sofa. Beast Boy sat next to her and comforted her. As much as he really wanted to get where the action was, someone had to look after his pregnant wife. This did make Terra feel better knowing at least she wouldn't be all alone.

Suddenly they could feel the tower quivering. "What's that?" Terra whispered. Beast Boy had a bad feeling in his stomach. He stood up and gazed around ready to spring into action, when suddenly the windows shattered. Terra braced herself from the shockwaves. "You alright…?" Beast Boy asked. Terra nodded but when they turned to face the window area, what they saw they couldn't believe but it was there. Beast Boy changed into T-Rex, and Terra used her powers to lift up stones from the marble flooring in the kitchen area, her pregnancy however made it hard to control her powers, and in the end soon she and Beast Boy were at the mercy of their enemy.

Meanwhile, the other Titans couldn't believe how dark the city was. Cyborg had his shoulder-light working, and Starfire carried two glowing starbolts in her hands. "I believe I am getting the creeps." she said with a hint of fear in her voice.

Raven felt the same. She was all for dark places "But this is just too much."

Everywhere they went they found more people unconscious in the streets, just as the news said. Robin called ambulances for all of them, but they were reported busy enough, and the hospitals were already jam-packed, but the people promised to do what they could. "We've got to find out what's causing this and why." Robin said "Anyone got any leads?"

Cyborg tried to scout for clues leading to the right track with his wrist-computer. "It's no good." He said "Whatever this smog stuff is, I can't get any clear readin's"

Copy-Cat suddenly stood still and tensed "Wait…! I feel something."

The others stopped and gazed around and suddenly the shadow of something gigantic passed overhead. "What was that?" asked Robin. Starfire flew round the corner and gasped hard "Friends! Come, quickly!" she cried.

The others rushed to her side and what they saw was hard to believe. Cyborg gasped "Monsters…? Real monsters…?" All ways there were many different kinds of beasts, dragons, and all kinds of creatures going through town, theorizing the people and increasing the darkness.

"Let's move!" snapped Robin, and they all dashed off to confront the beasts. Starfire fired her starbolts rapidly and Cyborg blasted them with his cannon, but much to their horrors, the blasts didn't seem to affect them at all. It did, however, get their attention and the monsters turned and prepared to strike back. "Scatter!" shouted Robin.

The monsters began to breathe fireballs, or charges of energy, and even magical powers. Raven tried her own magic, but it still didn't even make them flinch. "We must keep trying!" shouted Copy-Cat as he readied his battle-claws and challenged a lizard-like creature to combat, but this creature proved to be far stronger than anything Copy-Cat had ever faced and knocked him back hard with one punch. The team rushed over and Raven helped her boyfriend up. "You okay?" she asked. "I believe so." he replied.

"What's with these guys?" Robin wished to know.

"Your attempts are futile." said a mysterious voice. The team looked up and saw what had to be one of the missing kids form the news report. The young man looked rather pale and red around the eyes, almost as if he were under some sort of spell. This was confirmed when the team saw on forehead was a mysterious symbol that Starfire recognized was from duel monster cards.

"You mean these creatures are duel monsters?" asked Cyborg.

The boy snickered and nodded. "For five thousand years the shadows have grown restless, waiting to take over and block out the light, and now the time has come. We shall rid the Earth of every bright thing, and vanquish all the peace and harmony until only the darkness and chaos remains."

Robin had heard enough, and leapt straight up at the boy to try and capture him so maybe they could try and help him, but the boys simply held up a duel monster's card and shouted out **_"CHAIN ENERGY…!"_** and Robin suddenly found himself bound by powerful chains that began to shock him mercilessly. "ROBIN…!" shouted Starfire and ran to capture the poor for harming her husband, but suddenly a young girl popped out from behind the corner and held up another card, **_"CALL OF THE EARTHBOUND…!" _**and like magic, Starfire was teleported back down and surprisingly attacked her own teammates. More of the missing kids appeared until they all stood in a perfect group of five.

"Fools…!" the first boy said "You don't stand a chance against the power of the shadows." Then he and his teammates each raised a card up high, and at once they began to glow brightly. The Titans felt this was the end, and suddenly in the bright flashes of light that followed.

Robin soon opened his eyes wondering if he was dead, but the fact that his head ached and he felt all groggy meant he was still alive, and he was happy to find his friends were still alive, but what he saw and what the others realized turned their bloods cold.

Starfire had normal eyes, and eyebrows, and the red marks on her forehead were gone. The gemstone on Raven's head was gone. She tried to use her powers, but nothing happened. Then she realized "Copy-Cat! Where is he…?"

"And where is Cyborg?" cried Starfire.

The two of them poked their heads shyly from behind a dumpster. "Back here…" said Cyborg "And that's just where we're stayin' too. Unless one of throws us some clothes."

The others felt embarrassed for both themselves, and Copy-Cat and Cyborg. They were both normal. Copy-Cat had regular human ears now and a regular human body including what he didn't have down below before, and Cyborg was no longer a robot, but since neither of them naturally wore clothes… it was rather embarrassing for them.

Luckily they were right near a clothing store, and even though it was morally wrong, this was an emergency, and how could anyone care at a time like that. Once Cyborg and Copy-Cat were garbed, they all decided it best to head back to the tower. At least the T-Car was still where Cyborg parked it seeing as how none of them could fly.


	3. Basics

**CHAPTER THREE**

As the teams neared the tower, they could see the large chunk of it blown off. All of them were worried about Beast Boy and Terra. They couldn't even try to communicate with them as the smog even blocked out communication systems, but upon their arrival they could see Beast Boy and Terra were okay, but Beast Boy wasn't green anymore. He was flesh-skinned, brown-haired, round eared. Terra was practically already the same, and still pregnant, but she, too, couldn't use her powers. Beast Boy was especially ticked when he found out that his magic voice and music were also taken away. Now he couldn't sing beautifully, or play music. "And that's a problem because…?" Raven asked uncaringly.

"Hey! That magic is my meal ticket for easy money making to support my growing family." Beast Boy snapped.

"Now, Now, Garfield… Zat vill do." said a familiar voice from the kitchen area. It was non-other than their old friend Dr. Von Richter who was let in earlier by Beast Boy and Terra, and with him was another elderly Englishman, a colleague of his from when he went to university, just moved into town; retired archeologist Professor. Henry Hawkes. "Charmed to meet you all." he said.

"What are you two doing here?" Robin asked.

"Quite simple, really, Robin…" Henry said "I expect you want answers to what is happening, and I may be able to give you some."

Unable to argue with that… everyone sat at the table, and Von-Richter managed to fix everyone some tea, and Henry began to explain what he knew, but basically it was exactly identical to the history of the duel monsters card game. "Dude!" cried Beast Boy "Looks, like I was right," he gloated "They are real." Some of the others gave him a fierce look "Shutting up now." He said sheepishly.

Henry continued with his story about the monsters and magic of ancient Egypt, but there were other dangers as well…!

"Five thousand years ago… There lived, in Ancient Egypt, a group of sorcerers who sought to turn the entire world into a dark realm of chaos and destruction to fulfil their violent natures and lust for power and dominance. So they sold their souls to the dark side in exchange for a dark and evil magic so intense that it brought on the very wrath of the Shadow Realm."

"The Shadow Realm…?" asked Copy-Cat.

"That is correct." replied Henry "A dark and eerie world created by the sorcerers where nightmares never end, and the darkness feeds upon your soul and mind."

Starfire and Terra felt shivers run up their spines. Their husbands comforted them, but they, too, felt a little freaked out.

Henry continued to explain that these shadow sorcerers, became so powerful that they evolved into spectral beings called shadow knights and used their powers to create and summon forth deadly beasts of great power, and anyone who dared to stand up to them met with a horrible fate- having their very souls extracted from their bodies and trapped forever within the Shadow Realm.

They were seemingly unstoppable, but luckily there was a brave and powerful pharaoh who was strong enough to combat the shadow knights and match their strength. However, unable to ultimately defeat the shadows, the pharaoh did the only thing that he could. The shadows were captured, and entombed. Thus, the darkness was lifted, and all those who had their souls stolen were revived.

Even with the shadows safely entombed, it was always feared that they would one day escape, and return to finish what they started. "And I'm afraid it seems as if our fears have been answered." Henry regretted to say, and revealed how it all happened.

Years ago he was the head of an archeological dig in Egypt, when he and his team stumbled upon an Ancient Egyptian crypt which held many treasures and an ancient tomb. They studied and did their research and concluding theoretically that this was that same tomb that held the evil spirits, but the authorities merely dismissed these as wild fantasies and seemed more in a hurry to get the treasure on display to earn more money upon the shipping and discovery.

So the treasures and the tomb went on a worldwide tour. Now, years later, they wound up in Jump City. "And my theory proved correct about the tomb. Only yesterday afternoon while the treasures were being unloaded into the museum, a gang of street urchin boys discovered the tomb, and inadvertently unleashed the shadows back into our world."

He didn't have to go any further; it was obvious what was happening now. The shadows had obviously possessed all those kids, and were responsible for the dark smog and the people of the city had lost their souls to the Shadow Realm. This began to bring on the questions "Why weren't we sent?" Raven asked "I mean, we got hit, and we only lost our powers, and were just turned into regular beings."

"Vell, you see, zat introduces another theory." Von-Richter said "According to zee legend, some people vere fortunate enough to possess 'igh levels of super inner strength. So only a part of zem gets sent to zee shadows."

This made the Titans realize because they were super heroes, and most of them had genetically altered super bodies and powers, they managed to pull through so only the part of their bodies with all their powers was vanquished. "Somethin' tells me next time we may not be so lucky." Cyborg said.

The main question now was how to stop the shadows. The Titans were all powerless. "Even if we were in possession of our powers, they would not help us." Copy-Cat pointed out, and he was right. Those shadows were fighting with ancient powers they really couldn't hope to understand and their powers were completely ineffective, but it was agreed that if the shadow were once conquered before, there had to be a way to combat them. They had to hurry as the world was being clouded by the shadows more and more every second. It would take the shadows awhile for to fully disrupt everything which gave them some time, but no one had any ideas.

While they all chatted, Beast Boy was preoccupied gazed at his duel monster's deck, still finding it hard to believe that he was right all the time and all this was related to a simple card game. Then suddenly he realized "The card game…" then he bolted upright "That's it!" The others turned to face him with curious expressions and Beast Boy held up his deck "The game!"

The others sighed in dismay "Not now, Beast Boy." Robin said "This is no time to be playing a game." added Starfire.

"No, no, don't you see...?" Beast Boy said "They're using the same kind of stuff that's from the game."

The others quickly caught onto what he was saying and it was agreed that the only possible way would be to challenge the shadows to duels in hopes of defeating them- playing on their own turfs. "I believe you're right, lad." Henry said "It's very risky, but it just may be our only chance."

"A-huh, just one thing…." Raven said "Most of us don't even have decks, or even know how to play this crazy game."

Beast Boy, Terra, even Henry gazed at each other nodding with cheeky expressions.

Henry brought them over to a game shop he owned and operated. He sold many duel monsters cards and decks, and was more than willing to let everyone have some, but first the main thing that had to be done was teach the others how to play the game, and that meant everyone, even Raven was forced to pay attention.

Over the next couple of days, Beast Boy, Terra and Henry taught everyone the basic rules, how the cards worked and the many different combinations to use, but the most important thing was to expect the unexpected.

Terra even had an idea that everyone would feel more confident if they dressed sharper, like real duelists, so it was back to the clothing store, and everyone looked like rock stars in their new getups.

"Man, lookin' sharp." Cyborg said a she admired his reflection.

Starfire liked the way she looked too and even pretended to be strumming an electric guitar.

Robin and Copy-Cat unfortunately, and mysteriously kept coming out in the exact same outfit, and without Copy-Cat's cat ears to give him away, no one would tell who was who at first. Finally, they both managed to pick identical outfits but differently colored. "I guess that's good enough." Robin said.

"Agreed." said Copy-Cat.

Even Raven had to admit she looked pretty sharp in her new outfit. She even flicked back her long hair and playfully said to her reflection "Go ahead. Make my day."

Even Terra had a new outfit, and even acquired a special brace to wear round her large stomach so it wouldn't jerk around so much. She wouldn't let the others, not even Beast Boy or Robin talk her out of it "I'm coming with you guys and that's that!"

"But, Terra…" Beast Boy tried, but his wife made it clear. Beast Boy knew he was stuck, but he secretly prayed she'd be alright and nothing would happen to the baby.

Once back at the game shop, all their decks were readied. Beast Boy was dismayed to find that of all the cards the shop had; still there was no Rainbow Dragon for him. He really wished he had it; it would make the upcoming duels a lot easier.

Henry promised Beast Boy he'd see it soon, but for now they all had a job to do. "Be warned…" he reminded them all "You're not dueling for fun. Losing is not an option, otherwise…" he paused "Your souls will be trapped in the Shadow Realm and you might not be able to return."

"So, we won't lose then." Cyborg said.

As much as the others wanted to agree, they knew they couldn't get cocky. Right now, their main plan was to split up and try to track down the kids who were possessed by the shadows, and be prepared for any decks that they possessed. Cyborg even modified the communicator signals so they'd have a short distance range through the city so they could all keep in contact.

"Good luck, heroes." Henry said as they all headed off.

"Vell…" Von-Richter said "How about some more tea? It's going to be a long day."

"Marvelous." Henry said, but as soon as Von-Richter went off, Henry made a quick phone call. He acted very sinisterly and was speaking to one of the possessed children. He warned them about the Titans "You know what you must do?" he asked.

"Absolutely." answered the boy "No one will stand in the way of our glorious plot. Consider them disposed of."

"Good." Henry snickered and his eyes were glowing red.


	4. Way of the Warrior: Part 1

**CHAPTER FOUR  
****(Part one)**

Once the Titans had split up, the first they knew to do was look for an area where many monsters were gathered. They were bound to find one of the possessed kids that way, but keeping well in mind of what was at stake if they lost their duels.

Robin searched the streets on his motorcycle. It still baffled him of all the sights he passed. People lying unconscious in the streets, stores were ransacked; even lampposts and chunks of rubble and debris lay fallen all over.

"Quite a mess isn't it?" hissed a voiced.

Robin peered round and could see one of the possessed kids. He hopped off his bike and said "You know why I've come…?"

The young boy snickered and nodded. "You don't know how fortunate you are that you and your friends are to still standing. Not many have ever survived a banishing to the Shadow Realm to tell the tale of it."

Robin's face curled into a deeper sneer "I still don't know too much about all this, but I do know I can't let you or your clan continue like this."

The boy seemed to like the tone of Robin's voice. It had aggression, and somewhat of determination. "I suppose I could use some of that amusement right now." he said accepting Robin's duel challenge.

The rules were basically like any other duel, each duelist began to eight-thousand life points, and the first hit zero was out. Only the loser of this duel would have their soul instantly banished to the Shadow Realm. Even the spirit that was controlling the boy had to abide by its own rules.

The boy, however, was kinds enough to introduce himself- His name was Darwin, and the shadow spirit chose to control him as he was a junior champion duelist who specialized in warrior monsters, and devoted his studies to their ways to keep him focussed. "Well, I guess this is your lucky day." Robin said "I've also got a deck full of warriors and such."

Darwin snickered and was somewhat excited "Warriors against warriors? Oh, how that takes me back, back to the time when war ruled and blood shed everywhere as warriors battled others; but enough of the trip around memory lane."

The two of them readied their decks, and drew their first cards into their hands, and with the aid of the shadow magic all around them, things were going to be unlike anything Robin has ever played. _"DUEL…!" _they shouted.

**SCORE:**

**_Darwin: 8000 VS Robin: 8000_**

"I believe I shall begin us…!" Darwin said as he drew a card. "I summon a monster face-down in defense-position!"

He simply just threw his card out onto the field and the shadow magic around them actually made the card turn into a giant illusion if itself before them. "That's all for now. Make your first move, if you dare."

Robin took in a deep yet silent breath, and readied himself by drawing his card. "Let's see how much I really know. I summon, **_ELEMENTAL HERO SPARKMAN_**!"

**_(Atk: 1600)_**

"Now, he'll attack your face down monster!"

The monster that Robin destroyed was **_FAMILIAR KNIGHT_**, with its defense at 1400, it was destroyed, but Darwin merely said "Thank you…!" he said, and when Robin asked he thanked him, it turned out that when Familiar Knight was destroyed in battle, both players got to summon one monster with four stars from their hand to the field.

"Therefore, I shall call upon this creature; **_COMMAND KNIGHT,_** in defense mode!"

**_(Def: 1900)_**

Now it was Robin's turn to summon a monster and he chose **_"ELEMENTAL HERO CLAYMAN_**, also in defense."

**_(Def: 2000)_**

So far nothing too serious had happened. Robin seemed to have the hang of how to play the game, but he only wished he was given the time to study as many monsters and their secrets as he possibly could.

"Face it, hero; you haven't a chance." Darwin taunted him "Me and my clan have played these games for countless centuries. Why not make it easier and surrender willingly?"

Robin clenched his fist "Because I prefer to stand up for what's right, and that's what a true warrior is all about." He finished his turn by placing one card face-down.

"As you wish…" Darwin hissed as he drew his next card, and he smirked with glee. "First I shall lay one card face-down. Now for my next creature, **_MARAUDING CAPTAIN…!"_**

**_(Atk: 1200)_**

"And thanks to the astonishing ability of my Command Knight, all my warrior monsters attack power increases by 400."

**_(Atk: 1200) Becomes (Atk: 1600)_**

Robin growled softy, but Darwin enjoyed teasing him expressing how in times of war, other warriors and their comrades always helped one another out, and they also came prepared with many secrets. "For example, by summoning my captain, I also gain the opportunity to call forth yet another warrior. Come forth, **_COMRADE SWORDSMAN OF LANDSTAR!"_**

**_(Atk: 500)_**

Now that that monster was out, all Darwin's warriors gained an additional 400 attack-points.

**_(Atk: 500) Becomes (Atk: 1300)_**

**_(Atk: 1600) Becomes (Atk: 2000)_**

Then he changed his Command Knight into attack-mode, and it had 2000 attack points as well.

But before he dared to attack, Robin's face-down card did worry him, but another thing warriors weren't afraid of was a challenge, but they were also very sneaky and well-prepared. "So I shall play, **_MYSTICAL SPACE THYPHOON!"_** and Robin's face-down **_MIRROR FORCE_** trap card was destroyed.

"And let's not forget, that most warriors hang their signature flags in battles." Darwin said and he activated a continuous spell car, **_"BANNER OF COURAGE!" _**and with that card in play, all of his monsters would gain 200 extra attack points only when they battled.

Now Robin was really wide open. First Darwin ordered Command Knight to destroy Robin's Clayman. Clayman was destroyed, but at least Robin's life points were safe, until Darwin continued and destroyed Sparkman with his Captain.

**_(Atk: 2200) VS (Atk: 1600)_**

Robin braced himself as his monster exploded, and as his life points dropped…

**SCORE:**

**_Darwin: 8000 VS Robin: 7400_**

Now he was left wide open to a direct attack from the Comrade Swordsman which dropped his score by 1500…

**SCORE:**

**_Darwin: 8000 VS Robin: 5900_**

Robin also felt very strange, weaker, and sore. It was as if losing his life points was losing his spiritual energy as well, which Darwin confirmed was exactly what was happening. "We are playing a shadow game, where everything here is almost as real as you or me, and from the looks of things, you lack what a warrior possesses; strength!" He not only referred to a warrior being physically strong, but also related to other abilities of his monsters, such as the Captain protecting the other warriors from being attacked, and the Commander herself couldn't be attacked at all while other monsters were in play, just like a real army banding together

Robin, still not willing to give up, got to his feet. "Even the greatest of warriors can learn from their mistakes." he said "And that's just what I intend to do, because warriors also have attitude!"

Darwin admired Robin's courage, but was growing annoyed with being kept waiting. Since he had no more cards to play, Robin drew his next card, and he thought it over hard. The fact that Darwin had no more cards in his hand was usually a move most duelists wouldn't want to do as it left them vulnerable, which lead him to believe that the face-down card was probably a trap, but that didn't mean it was, or was it?

"Come now…" Darwin said "The shadows are waiting, or perhaps you've finally come to your senses by now…?"

Robin decided it best to just go ahead and make a move, and he hoped what he was doing was right. "Now I activate the spell **_MIRACLE FUSION!_** With this, I can go into my graveyard dimension, and fuse Sparkman and Clayman, and two warriors together become one. **_ELEMENTAL HERO THUNDER GIANT!"_**

**_(Atk: 2400)_**

Darwin knew what was coming now. All Robin had to do was discard one card form his hand, and his giant could destroy one monster with an original attack power lower than that of its own. Thus, Command Knight was instantly destroyed, and without here, the other two warriors lost power.

**_(Atk: 2000) Becomes (Atk: 1600)_**

**_(Atk: 1300) Becomes (Atk: 900)_**

"Impressive." Darwin said.

"You think that's impressive…" Robin said "Wait until he attacks! Go Thunder Giant, wipe out that Captain!"

It was the only monster he was allowed to attack, and surprisingly, his attack went through…

**_(Atk: 2400) VS (Atk: 1600)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Darwin: 7200 VS Robin: 5900_**

Darwin merely just grunted as the shockwaves hit him and stood there with his arms folded in an annoyed expression. Robin placed one card face down, and then ended his turn. "Looks like your little trap didn't work." Robin said, but Darwin scoffed at him "Oh, how wrong you are."

While he admitted he lost some warriors and life points, all warriors were committed to giving their lives in war if they had to, especially if it meant opening up old new possibilities. So Darwin drew a single card into his hand.

"For example, I shall reveal my trap card **_RECKLESS GREED. _**This allows me to draw two more cards, but my next two draw phases are skipped!"

Now he had three cards in his hand, and while his swordsman couldn't defeat Robin's powerful giant on its own, he didn't have too. "I can crush you easily with the aid of this card, **_FISSURE!"_**

That spell destroyed one monster on Robin's field with the lowest attack points, and since he only had one monster, his giant was instantly destroyed. Robin growled fiercely, and was now open to an attack, and Darwin ordered his monster to strike Robin only to fall into Robin's trap **_"A HERO EMERGES…!" _**Darwin was now forced to choose a card from Robin's hand, and if it was a monster, it was instantly summoned. However, since Robin was only holding one card, and it happened to be a monster, it was immediately summoned. **_"ELEMENTAL HERO BLADEDGE…!"_**

**_(Atk: 2600)_**

Darwin scoffed softly, and he was forced to cancel out his attack, but he didn't feel discouraged, and merely placed a card face-down to end his turn.

Now it was Robin's turn. He drew a card, and it wasn't much help to him, leaving him unsure of what to do next. Bladedge was strong enough to take out the swordsman, but it was Darwin's face-down card that scared him again. _"Is he pulling the same stunt like he did before?"_ Robin wondered. _"Or has he really laid out a trap for me?"_

There was only one way to find out for sure, and he decided to go for it. "Bladedge, attack the swordsman, now!"

"Hah! My trap activates…!" snapped Darwin. **_"WALL OF REVEALING LIGHT…!"_**

"Ah…!" gasped Robin as a giant barrier appeared over Darwin's side of the field, but his life points also dropped by 3000…

**SCORE:**

**_Darwin: 4200 VS Robin: 5900_**

And Darwin explained since it was 3000 that he paid, that meant that any monster Robin had couldn't attack with an attack of 3000 or less. So Bladedge was stopped in his path. "Sometimes, a warrior's best offense is a strong defense." Darwin taunted, "And I'm afraid that it only gets way worse for you from here."

He had to skip his draw phase, but he was able to play **_POT OF GREED_**, which allowed him to draw two extra cards, and he gathered yet another card that he needed. "Prepare yourself for another continuous spell, **_BURDEN OF THE MIGHTY!"_**

Robin suddenly gawked in shock when he noticed his Bladedge get weaker…

**_(Atk: 2600) Becomes (1900)_**

That was what the burden card did- it drained 100 points off the attack power of all Robin's monsters for each star in their level. Bladedge was a level seven monster, so it lost 700 points, which now made it easier to attack.

"Now I call for the warrior creature, **_BLIZARD WARRIOR!"_**

**_(Atk: 1400) Becomes (Atk: 1800)_**

Robin grunted in dismay as Darwin ordered his warrior to destroy Bladedge, and with the bonus it received from the Banner of Courage, Bladedge was defeated 2000 to 1900, and the swordsman attacked Robin directly dealing him another 1100.

**SCORE:**

**_Darwin: 4200 VS Robin: 4700_**

But make things worse, Blizzard Warrior's power allowed Darwin to look at the top card on Robin's deck and send it to the top or bottom of the deck. The top card was an **_ELEMENTAL HERO WILDHEART_**, which would have helped Robin next turn due to its immunity to traps, but it was sent to the bottom of the deck.

Robin was starting to run very low on options. The wall blocked him monsters attacking, and the burden card made his monsters weaker. He drew his next card, "Huh?" he softly remarked, and thought the best thing to do was play both his card, one monster face-down in defense mode, and his last card face down.

Then on Darwin turn, he skipped his draw phase, and didn't mind it, and merely summoned the last card in his hand, **_"APPRENTICE KNIGHT!"_**

**_(Atk: 1000) Becomes (Atk: 1400)_**

"Take a good look, Robin." Darwin sinisterly snickered "I have you badly outnumber, and you can't even stand up for yourself like a real warrior, and once you lose this duel, you'll forever be banished to the dreaded Shadow Realm for all eternity."

_"No!" _Robin thought to himself _"I'm not going to let that happen! I'm going to pull through this… somehow… I hope."_

**_To Be Continued…_**


	5. Way of the Warrior: Part 2

**CHAPTER FIVE  
****(Part Two)**

**SCORE:**

**_Darwin: 4200 VS Robin: 4700_**

Darwin could hardly contain himself as he continued to laugh at Robin's trouble, and he ordered his Blizzard Warrior to attack Robin's facedown monster, was just **_ELEMENTAL HERO AVIAN_**, and easily destroyed.

Now Darwin could gaze at the top card of Robin's deck again, and all that were there was a Polymerization card, which he allowed to keep on top, as it couldn't cause much harm if he drew it next turn. "Too bad I may not." Robin said "I activate **_HERO SIGNAL!"_**

"Ah!" gasped Darwin.

Robin scoffed with glee. "Since you destroyed my monster, I can summon one Elemental Hero with four stars or less, and I choose **_ELEMENTAL HERO BUBBLEMAN_** in defense-mode!"

**_(Def: 1200)_**

"And because he's all alone, and I have no other cards in my hand, I can draw two cards now."

Darwin was not very much impressed and really expected Robin to play something better. Nevertheless, he proceeded to destroy Bubbleman with his Knight, and then attack Robin directly with his swordsman, dealing him a direct 1100 points of damage, and putting his score way down.

**SCORE:**

**_Darwin: 4200 VS Robin: 3600_**

With his life points and energy fading, Robin was finding it hard to concentrate, but he knew he couldn't give up. Now it was his turn, and he drew a third card, and liked what he had. "First I'll play, **_POT OF GREED_**, so I can draw two cards."

This now gave him four cards in his hand, which helped him exceedingly.

"And now I'll play **_DIMENSION FUSION! _**First, I pay 2000 points…"

**SCORE:**

**_Darwin: 4200 VS Robin: 1600_**

Robin shook the pain of losing his energy off, but it was well worth the loss, because no he was allowed to summon back all his monsters that had been removed from play. So his Sparkman in attack-mode and Clayman returned in defense mode.

**_(Def: 2000)_**

**_(Atk: 1600) Becomes (1200)_**

Darwin didn't understand "Why would you waste time bringing cards like those back? They can't hurt my warriors."

Robin admitted this, but there was more to his plan than he realized. "Next I'll Summon, **_ELEMENTAL HERO STRATOS…!"_**

**_(Atk: 1800) Becomes (Atk: 1400)_**

Now he had three monsters on the field, just like Darwin, but Darwin still couldn't understand, all those monsters were too weak to face his, and would never get through the Wall of Revealing Light, but suddenly he saw his wall shatter to pieces, and the Burden of the Mighty card vanished too. "What is this?" Darwin snarled "What happened to my strongholds?"

Robin smirked and answered "That is the power of Stratos' special ability. When he's summoned, I can use him to destroy any number of spell or traps on your field equal to the many of other Elemental Heroes I have. I've got two others, so two of your cards went down!"

Darwin was outraged. Now Robin's monsters regained their attack power, and he couldn't block them this time. "Time for the warriors to war…!" Robin sneered "Sparkman, attack and destroy the comrade swordsman!"

**_(Atk: 1600) VS (Atk: 900)_**

Darwin growled as he braced himself from the shockwaves as his swordsman met his end.

**SCORE:**

**_Darwin: 3500 VS Robin: 1600_**

Worse than that, without his swordsman, his remaining monsters got weaker, and were now back to their original attack points, and Robin ordered Stratos to destroy Blizzard Warrior, which it did.

**_(Atk: 1800) VS (Atk: 1400)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Darwin: 3100 VS Robin: 1600_**

"The tables have turned on you now." Robin said. "I'll place one card facedown and end my turn."

Darwin admitted he had him for a moment, but he promised Robin that the tables would turn again. He drew his card and he grinned wickedly. "You never listen when I say that a good warrior always comes prepared." He said and then he proceeded to play the spell, **_CARD OF DEMISE, _**and it let him draw five cards into his hand, but after five turns he'd lose all his cards, but he intended to end the duel long before then.

So now he had five cards in his hand, and he liked what he had, because another thing warriors often did was save their biggest and best secret weapon for last, and now was the time for Robin to suffer the consequences.

"First I shall play **_THE WARRIOR RETURNING ALIVE! _**With this, I'll add my Comrade Swordsman of Landstar back to my hand, and summon him right away!"

**_(Atk: 500) Becomes (Atk: 900)_**

"And now I think I shall play this card, **_DOUBLE SUMMON! _**Now I can summon another warrior to join my forces, and I choose **_BATTLE WARRIOR!"_**

**_(Atk: 700) Becomes (Atk: 1100)_**

So he had three monsters again, but even with their power bonus, neither of them was strong enough to take out Robin's heroes. "I thought you said you had some sort of secret weapon?"

Darwin's eyes glowed red with evil. "I have…!" he snapped "And now, I will show you. I shall tune my Comrade with my other two soldiers, uniting their forces and summoning forth a warrior whose power is virtually limitless! **_COLOSSAL FIGHTER…!"_**

**_(Atk: 2800)_**

"A synchro monster…!" Robin shouted. He heard about these creatures during his short training.

"Correct." hissed Darwin "And I should mention that my newest warrior gains 100 points added to his attack force for every single warrior that has been destroyed."

Robin gasped in horror, because when Darwin said _"Every warrior"_ that meant his cards too. When all the dead warriors were added the total came to eleven, which gave Colossal Fighter a grand total of…

**_(Atk: 3900)_**

And the Banner of Courage was still in play. "No!" shouted Robin.

"Yes!" hissed Darwin "The time has come for you to feel the ultimate power of the warrior which will seal your fate, and strip you of your soul. Go my fighter, destroy his Stratos and end this."

With a grand attack of 4100, Robin would have surely lost the duel, if it were for the trap he set earlier. "I play **_HERO BARRIER!_** Sorry, Darwin, but since I control Elemental Heroes, your attack is stopped!"

Darwin growled angrily. "You are merely prolonging your inevitable fate!" he scoffed before ending his turn.

Robin wiped his brow and sighed in relief. He thwarted off one attack, but he wouldn't get so lucky the next time. That Colossal Fighter's attack was just off the charts to any of his monsters, and it would only get stronger if more warriors were sent to the graveyard, and with both heir decks containing warriors he'd have to play extremely carefully.

He drew his next card. It was a warrior monster, and he felt it best not to play it right away without the risk of making things worse. For now, all he could do was turn his monsters to defense-mode.

**_(Def: 300)_**

**_(Def: 1200)_**

Darwin merely drew his next card and ordered Colossal Fighter to destroy Stratos. This time succeeded. Even though Robin's life points didn't drop, another warrior was in the graveyard which gave Colossal Fighter and extra 100 points giving him an even 4000 total.

Now Darwin had three cards in his hand, but only three turns left to hang onto them. Robin has a sick feeling that he was drawing all monsters, and if they went to the graveyard, Colossal Fighter would get even stronger. Robin drew his third card, but it was only **_DOUBLE SPELL,_** and it was the only spell card he had in his right now, making it useless, but he thought he'd try and psyche Darwin out. "I'll place one card facedown, and end my turn."

Darwin only laughed as he drew his next card. "Do you really think I should be intimidated by your facedown card? A true is never afraid of anything." He demonstrated by destroying Clayman, and now his fighter had 4100 points, and Robin had only one monster left, his Sparkman. "I shall place one card face down and end my turn." Darwin said before passing control to Robin.

Robin felt his insides aching, either from lack of energy form being zapped so much, or the duel was starting to get to him. He drew his next card. A spell card called **_FUSION SAGE. _**It would let him add one Polymerization card to his hand, but he didn't think that would be helpful, except he remembered, and suddenly he had a brilliant idea. "Now I reveal my facedown card, **_DOUBLE SPELL!"_**

"No! Not double spell!" growled Darwin.

"Oh, yes!" Robin said "All I do is ditch one spell card in my hand, and then I can play this as any other spell card that you have in the graveyard, and I choose, **_CARD OF DEMISE!"_**

Now Robin was able to draw five more cards too, increasing his hand total to seven, and he felt as if he were staring into a goldmine. "Now, turn Sparkman into attack mode!"

**_(Atk: 1600)_**

"What?!" sneered Darwin "Don't tell me you intend to conquer my fighter with that puny thing…"

Robin's eyes behind his mask gave a twinkle, and he intended to prove it easily. "A hero always comes prepared with gadgets, and here's one for Sparkman; **_SPARK BLASTER!"_**

Once Sparkman had his little gadget, Robin could set his plan into action and hopefully get rid of Colossal Fighter for good, because with his Spark Blaster he could change the position of any monster his opponent controlled. "Ah…!" cried Darwin as he watched his fighter go into defense-mode, and its defense was pretty weak.

**_(Def: 1000)_**

"Say goodbye!" Robin snarled as he ordered Sparkman to attack, and sure enough Colossal Fighter was destroyed, however, before Robin could cheer, it appeared right again, and in attack mode. "But… but how?" he asked, and he suddenly guessed, and he was correct. Whenever Colossal Fighter was destroyed in battle, it came right back to the field. "How pathetic!" mocked Darwin "It seems your little plan to outsmart me backfired."

Robin just played one more card facedown and ended his turn.

Darwin drew his next card, and still not afraid of Robin's facedown cards "I must admit, you lasted longer than most of my victims ever had, but now the time has come." And he ordered his Colossal Fighter to destroy Sparkman…

**_(Atk: 4200) VS (Atk: 1600)_**

Robin roared and bellowed in pain as the waves blew right at him. Darwin laughed his loudest and claimed his victory, only to discover that Robin was still standing. "Impossible! You should be wiped out by now!"

Robin never felt so relieved that a card so properly named saved his life. Before his Sparkman was hit, he activated his facedown card, **_NEGATE ATTACK,_ **safely stopping the attack and ending the battle phase, much to Robin's sheer relief.

**SCORE:**

**_Darwin: 3100 VS Robin: 1600_**

Outraged, Darwin activated his facedown trap, **_PYRO CLOCK OF DESTINY!_** It skipped the turn so it would right to the next one, which meant his Card of Demise forced him to lose all the cards in his hand. All four of them were warrior monsters, they all made Colossal Fighter's power increase by 400 for a grand total of 4300

Robin feared that this was his last chance to end the duel for good, but after drawing his last card, giving him six in total he wasn't sure what to do. All his monsters were warriors, and if any of them went to the graveyard, Colossal Fighter would get stronger, and even if managed to destroy it by battle it would just come back again.

He suddenly gazed at two spell cards he had in his hand and carefully remembered all the monsters he added to his deck, and suddenly realized there was one possible way to make things work out.

"Okay, here goes." he said to himself, and he started off by playing **_FUSION RECOVERY!_** It let him let him recover one fusion material monster that was used for a fusion summon, and one Polymerization card.

So he got Polymerization, having discarded it earlier when using his Thunder Giant and Sparkman was used to originally make the Thunder Giant, so Robin got him back as well.

One warrior was gone from the graveyard, so Colossal Fighter dropped to 4200, but that was hardly anything at all, but Robin still wasn't finished.

"Now I summon **_ELEMENTAL HERO BURSTINATRIX!"_**

**_(Atk: 1200)_**

"And now I'll play another **_MIRACLE FUSION, _**banishing her and the Avian in my graveyard." Now another warrior was gone, Colossal Fighter dropped another 100 points, now at 4100 and Robin summoned **_"ELEMENTAL HERO FLAME WINGMAN!"_**

**_(Atk: 2100)_**

"Hah!" Darwin scoffed "You've wasted your time. Although that warrior is strong, it pales in comparison to mine."

Robin admitted that true, "But didn't you say that warriors work best when they are together?" he asked "Well, that's just what's going to happen. Go **_POLYMERIZATION!_** Merge Sparkman and Flame-Wingman." As the monsters merged a bright flash of shining light shot through the shadows. Darwin growled angrily and shielded his eyes from the brightness. "What is that…?" he asked.

Robin snickered cheekily as he presented his new monster; **_"ELEMENTAL HERO SHINING FLARE WINGMAN!"_**

**_(Atk: 2500)_**

"I'll bet you're not so happy my heroes are dead now." Robin said "Because for each and every one of them in the graveyard. Wingman's attack goes up by 300."

"Ah…!" cried Darwin.

It seemed the images of every Elemental Hero Robin has lost, except for Avian and Burstinatrix were there standing behind him, like a full-fledged army ready to strike. Seven heroes equaled 2100 hundred attack points, giving Wingman a grand whopping total of…

**_(Atk: 4600)_**

And colossal fighter had only 4400. "And finally, just to humiliate you... I'm afraid it's time for your warriors to be eternally put to rest. So I play **_SOUL RELEASE!"_**

Darwin gasped in horror as Robin removed five warriors form his graveyard, weakening Colossal Fighter severely—to 3600. "No! This can't be happening!" Darwin cried.

"Oh, it's happening." Robin said "Shinning Flare Wingman, ATTACK!"

And as his monster dove straight at Colossal Fighter, Robin mentioned his monster's other power. "When he destroys a monster, you take damage equal to that monster's attack power!"

"No…!" cried Darwin and the bright lights consumed his monsters and swallowed the rest of his life points.

**FINAL SCORE:**

**_Darwin: "0000" VS Robin: 1000_**

"NOOOOOO….!"

The evil shadow spirit emerged from Darwin's body, flew in many circles, still screaming, and then it vanished in a small explosion.

"YEAH…!" Robin cried out for joy, but then he noticed Darwin was still unconscious. The evil spirit was gone, but his soul did not return. He reported to the other over his communicator that he won his match, but he couldn't leave Darwin. "I'm going to take him back to the tower. He'll be safe there."

The others agreed and continued to search for the other shadows. Robin scooped up the boy in his arms and carried him off. "That's one down, and four to go."

**_Author's notes:_**

**_Just thought I'd point out, even though these duel strategies would work in our world, some of the cards are not real (They exist only in the Anime/Manga) Keep that in mind if you're getting ideas for deck building._**


	6. What the Wild things are: Part 1

**CHAPTER SIX  
****(Part One)**

Even with Darwin defeated, the shadow magic would never be lifted until all the shadows were defeated. Starfire kept that in mind as she walked along town. She was starting to feel tired and wished she had her powers back so she could fly, and she was still feeling little scared having to wander in the dark without her powers, or her friends around. Every little sound made her jump or yelp. "Who is there?" she fearfully asked, only to find it was either a rat running by, or just the sound of her own footsteps.

She then proceeded to playfully slap her head in attempt to pull herself together. "I must not lose my head." She kept telling herself. Then suddenly she could see a young girl up ahead. She seemed rather lost and frightened. "Oh, fear not small one. I will not harm you." Starfire said trying to be friendly, but the girl ran off like a frightened mouse. "Wait!" cried Starfire as she chased after her. "Please listen to me! It is not safe out here!" but the girl would not stop running and she ran into a busted building. Starfire continued to chase after her inside the building where it was even darker than outside.

Starfire quietly walked round the dark room whispering "Young one, where are you? You must believe me. I am here to help you."

That's when green glowing lights lit up the room instantly revealing a wide spaced out area, and the girl called out to her "The only you should be helping is yourself."

Starfire turned and saw the girl, and she immediately knew "You are… one of them!"

The girl nodded, and the shadow controlling her made her introducer herself as Giselle. Though she appeared to be no more than ten years old, she once attended a duel monsters camp where she was the number one camper and who really knew her way of the wildlife. Hence, her deck had all kinds of beasts and plant creatures.

"Please, can we not talk this over?" Starfire asked.

"Silence!" snapped Giselle "You and your friends are proving to be more than a mere nuisance to us shadows. You may have defeated one of us, but that doesn't change your fate or the world's."

Starfire's anger was starting to show. "Much as I detest fighting against a young child, if this is what must be done, so it shall be!"

Even while inside a building the shadow magic would still function for their match. So they drew their cards and their life points were set. _"DUEL…!" _they shouted.

**SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 8000 VS Giselle: 8000_**

Starfire was permitted to go first. She just hoped her deck of fairies were ready to take on this girl. There was still much about the game she wished she had time to learn.

Starfire drew her sixth card and stood ready. "I call forth, the **_PETIT ANGEL!"_**

**_(Atk: 600)_**

Giselle gazed in confusion and then began to laugh hysterically. "You expect to defeat me with that?"

"Huh? I have messed up?" Starfire asked.

"You certainly have." Giselle replied "Allow me to show you what a real monster can do. I summon **_GIANT RAT!"_**

**_(Atk: 1400)_**

Starfire gazed helplessly unsure of what to do, and watched her tiny little fairy get squashed with such ease.

**SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 7200 VS Giselle: 8000_**

Giselle placed one card facedown, ending her turn, but she still couldn't believe what a boneheaded move Starfire just did. "Even in ancient times, one would never throw such and inferior monster out in the open."

Starfire was growing angry with Giselle's taunting, it wasn't her fault she wasn't very skilled at the game. She drew her next card, but could hardly figure out which cards to play. She figured maybe it would be best to play a monster in defensive mode and shield it with a trap as it would help her figure out what to do. "Now I shall place one monster in facedown defensive-mode, and I shall set this trap card facedown as well."

Giselle wondered if she was dreaming or what! First she summoned a weak monster, and now she revealed her strategy? Starfire just realized that, too late, and smacked her forehead, forgetting the number one rule Beast Boy and Terra taught her, _"Don't reveal your strategy!"_

"Even my weakest of opponents showed far greater skills than you." Giselle scoffed as she drew her next card. She liked what she drew, but first she revealed her own trap **_"DUST TORNADO!_** Say goodbye to your trap card."

Starfire's trap was **_TRAP HOLE,_** and it would have been very helpful had she not blown it. Giselle then played a field spell, "Behold the magic of **_GAIA POWER!"_**

The entire area around them began to rumble as a giant magical tree appeared, and as long as it remained in play, all Earth monsters would gain 500 attack points but lose 400 defense points. This made Giant Rat even stronger.

**_(Atk: 1900)_**

"And while I'm at it, **_ABYSS FLOWER_**, come forth!"

**_(Atk: 750) Becomes (Atk: 1150)_**

First she ordered Giant Rat to destroy Starfire's hidden monster, which was **_BIO-MAGE._** It was destroyed too easily, and then they Abyss Flower attacked her directly.

The waves of power ruffled Starfire's long hair about.

**SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 6050 VS Giselle: 8000_**

"That was not at all nice!" she growled, but Giselle didn't care. The shadows were all about war and destruction. "And judging by the way you are poorly handling things, your destruction will occur faster than was planned. Soon you and all your friends will share the same fate. You can spend an eternity wandering in darkness!"

Starfire couldn't let that happen, but she was starting to feel doubtful. Her score was way down, and she already made costly mistakes, and to top it all off Giselle's monsters were much stronger now. From this point on, she'd have to play with extreme caution. "I must focus." She told herself as she drew her next card, and she suddenly realized there was a way for her to turn things around.

"Now I shall summon, **_AGIDO!"_**

**_(Atk: 1500) Becomes (Atk: 2000)_**

Starfire leapt for joy- knowing that since her fairy was an Earth type monster, it got the power bonus from the field. "Now then, I shall attack your Giant Rat!" she shouted.

**_(Atk: 2000) VS (Atk: 1900)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 6050 VS Giselle: 7900_**

Despite the rat was destroyed, that didn't bother Giselle much at all. For when it was destroyed she could instantly summon another Earth creature with an attack of 1500 or less right from her deck. So she summoned another Rat.

Starfire clenched her fists, but tried to keep her cool. "I shall set one card facedown and end my turn."

Giselle wasn't fooled by the act as she drew her next card "Feigning bravery will get you nowhere." she hissed "But you will be needed it as much as you can get. I sacrifice both my monsters to summon an even bigger beast; **_BIG KOALA!"_**

**_(Atk: 2700) Becomes (Atk: 3200)_**

Starfire's monster didn't have a chance against that kind of power, not even when Giselle ordered her Koala to attack. "I activate my trap!" Starfire shouted **_"MAGIC CYLINDER!"_**

"Hah! Trying to deflect my attack back at me, it won't work." Giselle said "From my hand I play the quick-spell, **_INSTANT FREEZE!"_** It canceled out the effect of the trap, and flipped it facedown again. It also couldn't be activated again until three of Giselle's turns passed, but above all, her attack wasn't stopped "Big Koala, go!"

"Oh…!" cried Starfire as she braced herself from the waves of the attack.

**_(Atk: 3200) VS (Atk: 2000)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 4850 VS Giselle: 7900_**

Giselle laughed at how pitiful Starfire was now. She could barely even hold herself up, let alone her cards. "I honestly can't say which is more amusing; me destroying you, or you doing it for me."

Hearing these words, Starfire felt very insulted and got right back on her feet. "I may know not much of how this game functions, but I have been taught that the battle it never over until the final move has been made… and it has not."

"Then make your move instead of wasting my time further!" snarled Giselle.

Starfire drew her next card and to her surprise it was one of the cards that Robin suggested she put into her deck. She remembered him telling her that even though she was pretty like a fairy, these cards would also resemble her alien likeness.

She closed her eyes and thought deeply _"Robin, my husband, I will take your advice, please help to guide me."_

"I shall first cast a magical and continuous spell, **_VALHALLA, HALL OF THE FALLEN!"_** That's when an enchanted hallway appeared over her side of the field behind her. "What is the point of this little trick of yours?" asked Giselle.

Starfire's eye gave a cheeky twinkle and explained that since she had no monsters on the field, she could special summon one Fairy from her hand. "And I choose to bring out **_THE AGENT OF CREATION- VENUS!"_**

**_(Atk: 1600)_**

Giselle didn't understand why she summoned such a weak monster to the field, but Starfire wasn't finished yet. "Now I shall call forth the creature **_THE AGENT OF MYSTERY- EARTH!"_**

**_(Atk: 1000)_**

When she was summoned, Starfire got to add one other kind of Agent card to her from her deck. She chose **_THE AGENT OF MIRACLES- JUPITER!_**

"But my plan does not involve her…" she said proudly. "I shall now demonstrate the secret power of Venus." By paying 500 of her life points…

**SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 4350 VS Giselle: 7900_**

…she summoned one **_MYSTICAL SHINE BALL_** from her deck to the field.

**_(Atk: 500)_**

Now she had all that she required to turn things really around. "I shall tune my Earth, to my other friends, and combined their mystical powers to call upon the creature known as, **_ANCIENT FAIRY DRAGON!"_**

**_(Atk: 2100)_**

"Huh!" scoffed Giselle "You waste valuable time, monsters, and life points to summon a weak and worthless dragon?"

Starfire's eyes narrowed "She is not useless, as you shall see…" She activated her dragon's power destroying the Gaia Power card, which not only weakened Giselle's Koala putting it's attack back to its original 2700, but it gave Starfire 1000 life points…

**SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 5350 VS Giselle: 7900_**

…And the ability to take a field spell of her own from her deck, "And I shall activate now; **_LUMINOUS SPARK!"_** Now, only light monsters like the dragon would gain 500 attacks points, but lose 400 of their defense.

**_(Atk: 2100) Becomes (Atk: 2600)_**

Even with the power bonus, her dragon was still weaker, but Starfire still had one other card in her hand to use; one that she had been hanging onto since the match began wondering what to do with it, and now the time was right "I equip my dragon with **_ELF'S LIGHT, _**to increase its power evermore!**_"_**

**_(Atk: 2600) Becomes (Atk: 3000)_**

"No!" shouted Giselle, but there was no escape for her this time. "My dragon, I command you to attack!" shouted Starfire, and it worked perfectly.

**_(Atk: 3000) VS (Atk: 2700)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 5350 VS Giselle: 7600_**

"YES!" cheered Starfire "I am victorious!"

As aggravated as Giselle was, she knew Starfire had a long way to go, and decided _"Perhaps I can play this to my advantage. Lull her into a false sense of security. Yes, and when she least expects it… her doom shall be sealed!"_

**_To Be Continued…_**


	7. What the Wild things are: Part 2

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

**(Part Two)**

Starfire was still beside herself with joy of taking control of the duel, and Giselle was ready to continue "It's my move." She said as she drew her card…

**SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 5350 VS Giselle: 7600_**

She liked what she drew, but wasn't quite ready to play it yet. _"I must keep this fool locked in her delusions."_ she thought and foolishly just summoned a simple **_MAN-EATING PLANT!_**

**_(Atk: 800)_**

On Starfire's turn she merely drew a card and ordered her dragon to attack, crushing it easily.

**_(Atk: 3000) VS (Atk: 800)_**

** SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 5350 VS Giselle: 5400_**

Starfire felt giddier than ever. With just fifty life points separating their scores, she felt she could do anything. That's when Giselle figured now was a good time to unleash her secret plot. She drew her card and then summoned a monster in facedown defense-mode, and ended her turn like that.

"What? You are not frightened, are you?" Starfire had to tease, and then ordered her dragon to attack. That's when Giselle sinisterly hissed "Not scared, just smart!"

"What?" cried Starfire as she noticed the monster she destroyed was a **_FIBER JAR!_** A costly mistake for Starfire, because now, both she and Giselle had to add all the cards from their hands, field, and graveyard back to their decks, shuffle, and then draw five new cards. "Oh, no!" cried Starfire "Oh, yes…" hissed Giselle.

Starfire's field was total empty again. All she could do was put a monster facedown, and place one card facedown as well.

Now it was Giselle's turn, and she drew her sixth card. "Now, where was I...? Ah, yes, destroying you." and she activated the spell **_NIGHT BEAM,_** and destroyed Starfire's facedown Magic Cylinder that she had gotten back when she shuffled her deck.

"And now that that's been dealt with, I activate another spell, **_COST DOWN!"_** All she had to do was discard one card form her hand to the graveyard, and all the monsters in her hand had their levels reduced by two, meaning now she was able to summon higher level monsters with ease. "Now I call forth, **_ROSE TENTACLES!"_**

**_(Atk: 2200)_**

"Rose! Attack…!"

Starfire's facedown monster was **_THE AGENT OF FORCE -MARS_**, and with zero defense points it was destroyed easily. Giselle then placed one card face down, ending her turn.

Starfire nervously drew her next card, and liked what she drew. "Now is my chance. I call forth **_THE AGENT OF MIRACLES- JUPITER!"_**

**_(Atk: 1800)_**

Now that she had a fairy monster in her graveyard she could activate Jupiter's special ability. "By banishing Mars from its grave, Jupiter will gain an extra attack force of 800."

**_(Atk: 1800) Becomes (Atk: 2600)_**

"Jupiter, I command you, crush the rose!" she ordered, but as her monster moved forth, it suddenly stopped. "Sorry, but I'm afraid I can't allow that…" Giselle said "So I activated my trap, **_HALF OR NOTHING!"_**

Poor Starfire! That trap forced her to make a choice, if she wanted to continue her attack her Jupiter's points would be halved, and it would be destroyed. So she had no other choice but to end her battle phase immediately. "I shall place a card facedown, and end my turn." she simply said, and with that, Jupiter's attack went back to normal.

Giselle snickered wickedly as she drew her next card. It was POT OF GREED, so she drew twice more, and drew a perfect field spell for her to play. "I'm afraid that things are about to get worse for you. Welcome to the **_BLACK GARDEN!"_**

The whole are transformed into an eerie and evil looking garden which gave Starfire the creeps, and it was about to get creepier! "Now I summon **_BERSERK GORILLA!"_**

**_(Atk: 2000) Becomes (Atk: 1000)_**

Its attack got halved because of the primary effect of the garden, but also on Starfire's field there appeared a rose token with only 800 attack points. This would happen whenever any monster was summoned to either side of the field.

"Why would consider giving me a monster to use?" Starfire asked.

"Why?" Giselle hissed, and then she snickered "So I can demonstrate my Rose tentacles Special ability!"

Starfire realized that Rose still had all its attack power, having been summoned earlier, and now that she had a planet monster on her field, Rose could attack more than once! So first it attacked her Agent of Jupiter

**_(Atk: 2200) VS (Atk: 1800)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 4950 VS Giselle: 5400_**

Then she used her second attack to destroy the rose token, and because she destroyed a plant monster, Starfire lost an additional 300 points, for a total of 1700 points of damage.

**SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 3250 VS Giselle: 5400_**

And the Berserk Gorilla had to attack as well, which meant another 1000 points!

**SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 2250 VS Giselle: 5400_**

Starfire wouldn't last much longer at this rate, but keeping in mind that whatever she summoned would have its attack power halved, she'd summon a rose token to Giselle's side of the field.

Starfire seemed ready to give up, and Giselle's taunting made her more ready to throw herself at whatever mercy the shadows would spare. "Yes, that's it now." Giselle taunted "You can't win, make it easier and surrender. I promise it will be far less painful."

Starfire reached for her wrist-pack where he deck was and seemed ready to tear it off her wrist and throw it away, surrendering the duel, but instead she drew a card swiftly wishing to continue. "It is my move, I believe!" she said deeply

Giselle could hardly believe that after all this she still wanted to go on. Normally even her weakest of opponents threw it in and begged her for mercy long before.

"I play the **_GRACEFUL CHARITY_**, so I may draw three more cards more, provided I discard two!" Starfire said and did so. Suddenly, saw one of her monsters, and realized it was time to try out another one of her little schemes.

"I shall banish Jupiter from its resting place in the graveyard, so that I may specially summon the controller of all my Agents, **_MASTER HYPERION!"_**

**_(Atk: 2700) Becomes (Atk: 1350)_**

Its attack was halved, and a Rose Token appeared on Giselle's side of the field.

**_(Atk: 800)_**

When Giselle asked the motive of all this, Starfire was only too happy to say that her master has special power that would put an end to the Black Garden, and its wicked tricks. "Invoke the power of my Hyperion, by banishing from the graveyard my **_AGENT OF JUDGEMENT- SATURN _**which was sent by my hand,thus, your garden is destroyed!"

Giselle growled and braced herself as the garden collapsed all around her. The monsters

Attacks did not return to normal, but Starfire didn't mind. "For my next attempt at you, I shall activate this trap, **_MIRACULOUS DECENT!"_**

With that card, Starfire was allowed to summon any fairy that was banished, and of course she chose Saturn!

**_(Atk: 2400)_**

With the garden gone, its power remained whole, much to Giselle's annoyance "Fairies to the right of me. Aliens to the left!" she growled.

"And now…" Starfire continued "First I command my master to destroy that rose token!"

**_(Atk: 1350) VS (Atk: 800)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 2250 VS Giselle: 4850_**

"And now, I shall call forth the power of Saturn! Destroy the gorilla!"

**_(Atk: 2400) VS (Atk: 1000)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 2250 VS Giselle: 3450_**

Starfire was very pleased, even though Rose Tentacles was still in play, she knew she could destroy it on her next turn, and decided to play the last two cards she was hold both facedown to ensure her victory.

"Make your move!" Starfire insisted "I assure you it shall be your final!"

This only made Giselle laugh hard and devilishly, especially when she drew her third card which was sure to bring her own ultimate victory. "I must say, these aliens of yours are very impressive in getting past my fleet."

Starfire took that as a compliment, but Giselle thought it fair to warn her "There is one thing that even your monsters cannot comprehend, and that is the wildness of the very universe they live in!"

Now Starfire was confused, and when she asked what she meant by that, Giselle showed her by playing the spell **_DARK HOLE! _**Thus, every creature on the field was destroyed, including Rose Tentacles, which was exactly what she wanted, because with its destruction she was allowed to summon a monster she sent to the graveyard earlier when she played Cost Down, **_REVIVAL ROSE!_**

**_(Atk: 1300)_**

"Now that is here, I think I have just the beast to feed it to- I sacrifice it to bring forth the wildest of creatures to dwell in the wild; **_BEHEMOTH, KING OF ALL ANIMALS!"_**

**_(Atk: 2700)_**

Starfire quivered with fear, but suddenly realized that this monster had seven stars in its level. So Giselle should have offered two monsters to summon it. Giselle admitted that was true, but thanks to its special power she was able to summon it using only one sacrifice, unfortunately its attack became 2000, but in addition, Giselle was able to get one beast monster from the graveyard and put it in her hand. She couldn't summon it yet, but on her next move she would and promised to finish Starfire out, for she was wide open to a direct attack. "And you believe that your hidden cards would save you, the wildlife has many surprises still. Activate **_HEAVY STORM!"_**

"No!" squealed Starfire as both her facedown cards were shattered in the horrible storm. Giselle then ordered her behemoth to attack, and Starfire fell to the ground upon being hit!

**SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 250 VS Giselle: 3450_**

"Now what was it you said about it being my last move?" Giselle taunted "You are the one about to make your last move. You have no cards to protect you. Your hand is empty, and no matter what it is you draw, my beasts will shatter your soul and banish you forever to the Shadow Realm!"

Now Starfire really fell into despondency. She didn't have a chance at all. What good would only one card do? Tears of fear fought to escape her eyes _"Robin, I have failed."_ She wept in her thoughts, that's when she suddenly remembered one last thing while she and her friends we rebuilding their decks…

Robin gave Starfire one special card to add to her deck. Originally he wanted to use it in his deck, but felt she would need it more than he would. Starfire didn't understand how one card in her deck would make all the difference, and that's when Beast Boy reminded her not to think like that.

_"Starfire, the game is never over until the last card is played, but the bottom line is that, in this game, anything can happen."_ He referred to what duellists called _"The Heart of the Cards"_ even though it was really just some superstitious saying that wasn't really always true, it never hurt to give it a try.

Remembering what Beast Boy said, and what Robin gave to her as a symbol of care, she got back to her feet, closed her eyes, and hoped with all her might as she ever so slowly drew her card, held it up, and softly peeked at it. "Huh?"

"Cease your stalling!" Giselle demanded "Whatever you have drawn I shall crush it on my next turn, and then I shall crush you."

But Starfire's lips curled into a sinister smile "You shall not be getting another turn." she said. Giselle winced "What did you say?"

"I said… you shall not be getting another turn." Starfire then explained that every glorious thing, even the universe itself had its beginning, and all of that was owed to wonders, mysteries, and even beings. "And such is the card that I hold… will bring relinquish you from the poor girl's body." She proclaimed as she held her card up high, and then proceeded to banish two monsters from her graveyard- One being a monster of Light… her Master Hyperion, and the second being a Dark creature… a **_DARK WITCH_** that she had thrown into her graveyard when playing Graceful Charity. All at once her card began to glow and the field started to rumble and go crazy. "What is all this?" shouted Giselle.

Starfire stood tall and proud "I summon forth a creature like no other. To ensure my victory, and will help save the world from your evil- **_BLACK LUSTER SOLDIER- ENVOY OF THE BEGINNING!"_**

**_(Atk: 3000)_**

Giselle stood gazing at the powerful soldier in both fear and anger, "Impossible!" she cried "You are weak, and I am strong! There is no way you can do this!"

Starfire begged to differ, and she touched her heart with her hand and thought of Robin for giving the card, and Beast Boy for giving her the confidence she needed. "It is time!" she snapped "Soldier, I command you to attack! Abolish that behemoth!"

**_(Atk: 3000) VS (Atk: 2000)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 250 VS Giselle: 2450_**

"No!" cried Giselle "My beast is gone!"

"And that is not all…" Starfire said "My soldier has destroyed a monster, and with it, it shall attack one last time!"

"No!" cried Giselle.

Starfire shouted with all her pride and might. "SOLDIER… ATTACK NOW! END THIS!"

"No!" cried Giselle as she saw the solider raise his mighty sword high and bound straight at her, striking her hard with all its power.

**FINAL SCORE:**

**_Starfire: 250 VS Giselle: "0000"_**

Giselle screamed and yelled as her body began to glow, and the shadow spirit was ejected and vanished in a dark explosion.

Starfire resisted the urge to leap for joy and just stood there smiling up at her monster, whom without she would have surely lost. The soldier even gazed back at her and winked before he vanished into the shadows.

"Starfire!" called a voice. Starfire turned and saw "Robin…!" standing at the door. Her husband ran to her, and she ran to him both colliding in a hug and he picked her up twirling her around and around. He had just arrived and saw her take out the shadow, "It was thanks to the card that you gave me."

"I know. I saw it…" Robin said "I'm proud of you, Star. Real proud…"

Starfire smiled lovingly and the two shared s kiss before taking Giselle back to the tower.


	8. Man of Machine: Part 1

**CHAPTER EIGHT  
****(Part One)**

The three remaining shadow possessed kids were brought before their master. They were on their knees, bowing to him as he glared at them from the shadows. "Two of our allies have been vanquished…" he sneered "I will not tolerate any more of these blunders."

The kids understood this and were well prepared to face the other Titans. So far they had underestimated their enemies, but this was not the first time they had gone up against worthy adversaries. They decided to restack their decks with more cards that would ensure victory.

"Now, go!" sneered the master "And no more failures."

Henry came out from his broom closet and was surprised to see Von-Richter outside. "Vat vere you doing there?" he asked.

"Oh, I… I was just looking for a broom, and I got caught in my days a young dramatic artist." Henry said. Von-Richter wondered if his friend was all right, but more than that he was still worried about the Titans. With three of the shadows still out there, he had a sick feeling things were about to take a turn for the worst.

At Titan's tower, Starfire and Robin had Darwin and Giselle sleeping in the sickbay beds. That is, if they were sleeping. Since the shadows had been expelled from their bodies, neither one of them had moved nor spoken in two whole hours for their own souls had still not returned. Starfire worried for them dearly. "What will happen if the fail to recover their souls?" she dreaded to ask.

Robin gazed at his wife deeply in her eyes "I don't even want to think about it, and that's not going to happen."

Starfire leaned her head on his shoulder and he held her close. "I do hope that our friends are doing well."

Suddenly she got her answer when the others returned with a grieving sight to behold. They brought another unconscious kids to the tower, but also, "Cyborg!" cried Robin. They had all dragged his unconscious body back to the tower. Starfire felt her heart ripping in half. "Cyborg… is he…?"

The others didn't have to say a word!

Soon Cyborg was resting in his own bed, motionless and silent just like the others. "We just found them like this." Terra said trying to hide her tearful emotions. Neither of them knew how this happened, but lucky they found Cyborg was recording everything with his com-camera. They all decided to watch and find out how it happened.

The recording started out with Cyborg driving around in the dark. It was hard to see even with the T-Car's headlights. Every now and so the monsters would spot him and chase after him, but the T-Car's super speed and other gadgets help him to avoid them. "Hah! You boys ain't got a shot." he gloated.

Then up ahead he noticed a young boy standing in the middle of the road, calling for help. Cyborg didn't recognize the kid at first, but being a big guy with a soft spot for the little people, he had to stop. "Yo' what's wrong, little man?"

"It's my mom!" the boy cried. "She's been hurt!"

Cyborg blood began to boil when the first thought in his head were those creepy shadows. "Hop in, kid. Show me where she is."

The kid acted so grateful as he hoped in, and directed Cyborg to where his mother indeed lay unconscious in a playground, exactly the same like many of the other helpless victims who had their souls taken. "Man! How much longer can this go on?" Cyborg muttered. When he asked the boy when his mother got hurt, he was shocked to hear the boy say "Last night when I sent her to the Shadow Realm."

He stood up with his features hardening "Come again…? You… sent her." Then he realized, "Wait, I recognize you now! You're one of them ugly shadow dudes!"

The boy snickered and the symbol appeared on his head as his eyes went red and his voice altered. "The name is Simon!" he said "And in my school I'm the best member of our duel monster's club."

Cyborg couldn't believe he let his heart for the little people get the best of him. "You want a piece of me, guy? Come and get it!"

The two of them were really going to duel hard at it. Cyborg gazed at his deck which was loaded with machine type cards, especially one particular monster he couldn't wait to try out. Their cards were drawn and life points were set. _"DUEL…!"_

**SCORE**

**_Cyborg: 8000 VS Simon: 8000_**

"Why don't you start us off?" Simon taunted Cyborg cheekily. "Fine by me…" Cyborg said as he drew his card. "Boo-Yah…! Have I got me a hand." he gloated. "First off, I play the **_MORPHTRONIC CELFON!"_**

**_(Atk: 100)_**

That's when a large dice block appeared out of nowhere. "Thanks to this little guy's power, when he's in attack-mode I can roll this die." He threw it and he got a three. "Nice! Now I draw cards equal to the number I rolled and if I so happen to have any morphtronics, I get to bring one out." He drew his cards and saw just the guy he was looking for. "That's what I mean. **_MORPHTRONIC BOOMBOXEN!"_**

**_(Def: 400)_**

"And thanks to this guy defense power, I can negate any attack you try to pull off against any of my guys. Now I'll throw down a facedown and call it a turn."

Simon stood there admiring Cyborg's style, "However, the way you duel is not unique." he said as he drew his card "And you're about to see why. I summon the almighty **_CYBER DRAGON!"_**

**_(Atk: 2100)_**

Cyborg never knew machine beasts like that were part of the game, but what confused him was how Simon was able to summon a level five monster just like that. Simon explained that it was his dragon's ability, allowing him to special-summon it if he had no monsters on his field and his opponent did. "And I also summon **_CYBER DRAGON ZWEI!"_**

**_(Atk: 1500)_**

"And even if that facedown card of yours is a trap, I'm ready for it." Then Simon ordered his Zwei to attack Celfon. "And by the way, my Zwei's attack force goes up by 300 when he's fighting."

**_(Atk: 1800)_**

Cyborg used Boomboxen to negate the attack, and then Simon ordered Cyber Dragon to attack, and that's when Cyborg revealed his trap **_"SAKURETSU ARMOR! _**Now, you're in trouble, because your monster goes buh-bye."

Simon merely smirked "You're right it does, but not by your card. From my hand, I activate the quick play spell **_MYSTIK WOK!"_** With it, his Cyber Dragon left the field and was sent to the graveyard, but Simon's life points increased by the amount of its attack power; 2100

**SCORE**

**_Cyborg: 8000 VS Simon: 10,100_**

"Man! Ten-thousand points…?" muttered Cyborg "This could be tough…"

Simon then cast a spell card, **_DIFFERENT DIMENSION CAPSULE! _**With that, he'd place one card from his deck away and then retrieve it in two turns. "But for now I'll lay this card facedown and end my turn."

Cyborg thought to himself _"Wow! This kid's got skill; I better not take my chances with him."_

He drew his next card, and activated Celfon's effect again. He rolled the die and he got a two, and he liked what cards he got. "That's what I'm talkin' about." He said "Here comes trouble; **_MORPHTRONIC SCOPEN!"_**

**_(Atk: 800)_**

The perfect monster he needed, and thanks to its attack ability, he was allowed to summon one other Morphtronic card form his hand "So please welcome, **_MORPHTRONIC SLINGEN!"_**

**_(Atk: 1200)_**

"And thanks to this bad boy's attack effect, I can sacrifice one of my guys, and blow up one of your cards. So goodbye Celfon and goodbye capsule! Now you don't get that card you wanted.

Simon just stood with his arms folded not even caring. "Don't speak much huh?" Cyborg asked "Well, then maybe this will get you movin'. I tune Scopen to my Slingen, and now folks presentin the pride and joy of every handyman's dream…**_POWER TOOL DRAGON!"_**

**_(Atk: 2300)_**

"Hmm, impressive…!" Simon simply said

"Oh, you haven't seen anythin' yet." Cyborg said, and explained that now he got to put three equip spell from his deck to his hand, and then Simon choose one for him to keep and the others to send back. Cyborg got a very card he wanted to use "Time to give this bad boy a spin; **_AXE OF DESPAIR!"_**

Now his dragon's attack went up to 3300, "And now he's gonna get him some Cyber Zwei! Go for it, baby!"

"Sorry, but I can't allow that." Simon said as he activated his trap, **_DRAINING SHEILD!_** It negated his monster's attack and boosted his life points up even higher!

**SCORE**

**_Cyborg: 8000 VS Simon: 13,400_**

"Ah, man!" groaned Cyborg "How many life points can you get?" He placed two cards face down and ended his turn.

"I guess it's my move now…" Simon said as he drew his card "And you were wrong in destroying my capsules card, because the card I put in it comes to my hand right now, **_CARD FROM A DIFFERENT DIMENSION!"_**

When Cyborg asked how that was possible, Simon explained that when his spell card got removed, it always returned to his hand next turn even if the capsule was destroyed "Now both of us draw two cards."

Both of them drew their cards, and now Simon was ready for his next move. Now I'll activate **_MONSTER REBORN, _**and I'll use it to get back my Cyber Dragon!"

**_(Atk: 2100)_**

"But it won't be staying around long, and you'll see why." Then he showed Cyborg a spell card from his hand. It was a card called **_POWER BOND_**, and Cyborg what it was for. It would allow Simon to fusion summon a machine type monster and its attack would automatically double, and at the end of his turn he'd take damage equal to the monster's original attack power. "But why'd you show me that? Now I know that you have it."

"I know you know." Simon said and the reason he showed him the card was because by showing him one spell card form his hand, Cyber Dragon Zwei was now treated as another Cyber Dragon by name. "Now I'll use my Power Bond card and fuse them to create the **_CYBER TWIN DRAGON!"_**

**_(Atk: 2800) Becomes (Atk: 5600)_**

"Man, two heads were even uglier than one!" said Cyborg.

Simon then snickered "That's nothing. Just wait until he attacks you…" and with that his Cyber Twin Dragon attacked Cyborg's dragon.

**_(Atk: 5600) Becomes (Atk: 3300)_**

**SCORE**

**_Cyborg: 5400 VS Simon: 13,400_**

Cyborg really took the hit hard, but when the dust settled, Simon could see much to his Confusion that Power Tool Dragon was still standing. "What's going on? That dragon should be blown to pieces."

"Should, but isn't." Cyborg smirked "See, all I had to do was get rid of the Axe of Despair that was hooked to it, and I spared him from fallin'. Not only that, but I just sacrifice Celfon and I get put the Axe on top of my deck and ready to draw next turn. So it looks like your attack backfired."

"Hah! That's what you think." snapped Simon, and he revealed that his dragon was allowed to attack twice in one turn. "Twice…? That's not good." muttered Cyborg, and the Cyber Twin Dragon attack his Power Tool again, and really wiped it out.

**_(Atk: 5600) Becomes (Atk: 2300)_**

**SCORE**

**_Cyborg: 2100 VS Simon: 13,400_**

Cyborg brushed himself off from the blast, "I'm playin' my two traps! **_DAMAGE VACCINE Ω MAX! _**And it gives me back all the points I just lost from your dragon's attack."

**SCORE**

**_Cyborg: 5400 VS Simon: 13,400_**

"And trap number-two, **_TIME MACHINE!_** Thanks to this baby, it travel back one turn and bring back the monster you just blew. So, welcome back Power Tool Dragon!" and sure enough his dragon returned to the field! "And what's more, since your turn's nearly done, you're gonna lose life points big time."

"Oh? Am I?" sneered Simon "You should know by now that the way I've calibrated my forces, that won't happen so easily. So I summon **_CYBER KIRIN!"_**

**_(Atk: 300)_**

"All I have to do is send it to the graveyard, and like magic, I take no effect damage from anything, and that includes my Power Bond!"

"Ah!" remarked Cyborg.

Simon just snickered, "Your machines may be impressive, but regardless of what they do, they will never be as strong and as swift as mine are. You can try and try until your cards run out, but you cannot escape your fate. All ways lead to the Shadow Realm, my friend, and soon it will take you and your soul a prisoner forever!"

His evil laugh echoing through the darkness really made Cyborg realize that Simon had a point. With the way things were now, he needed some big time help.

**_To Be Continued…_**


	9. Man of Machine: Part 2

**CHAPTER NINE  
****(Part Two)**

"Face it, my friend." Simon taunted "You and your machines are doomed along with the rest of your world."

**SCORE**

**_Cyborg: 5400 VS Simon: 13,400_**

Cyborg still stood tall and proud "If you're about done yakin' I'd like to make my move." And he drew his card, which was of course the Axe of Despair, but even with it wouldn't save him from that huge Cyber Twin Dragon. He was going to need a little bit of luck as he activated his Dragon's special ability. Once again, Simon was forced to pick an equip spell-card, and he chose just the one that Cyborg wanted. **_"MEGAMOPRH_**… Boo-Yah!" he cheered "You're in trouble now big guy, with Megamorph on my dragon, and my life points lower than yours, his attack gets doubled like that!"

That, plus the Axe of Despair, and Cyborg's dragon had a whopping 6600 attack in total. "Time… to work!" smirked Cyborg "Do it, Power Tool!"

**_(Atk: 6600) VS (Atk: 5600)_**

**SCORE**

**_Cyborg: 5400 VS Simon: 12,400_**

"YE-HAH…! That's what I'm talkin' about. Now I'll throw down a facedown and you take it from here."

Simon was slightly impressed, but far from amused "For a fool you certainly act confident." He said as he drew his next card. "What did you say?" snapped Cyborg.

"I am implying that if you honestly think you've taken control if this match, you are very much mistaken, and I'm about to prove that, but first I shall play **_POT OF GREED_** so I can draw two more cards, and next, I'll activate this **_DE-SPELL_** card and destroy your Megamorph!"

Without that card, the Power Tool Dragon's attacked dropped to 3300. "Ah, man!" groaned Cyborg "That was my ace card!"

"Really…?" asked Simon "Sorry to hear, but I'm afraid you'll have more to worry about when I play this; **_REFUSION, _**and with it, I can pay 800 life points and summon one fusion monster in my graveyard and equip it onto this card.

**SCORE**

**_Cyborg: 5400 VS Simon: 11,600_**

"Wait a sec! You mean…?"

"I do…! I re-summon, Cyber Twin Dragon!"

**_(Atk: 2800)_**

Even though his monster was weak, Simon was still well prepared and gave Cyborg's an Equip spell of his own; **_PARALYZING POTION!_** Now with that card, Power Tool Dragon wasn't allowed to attack. Then Simon ended his turn with one card facedown.

This lead Cyborg to believe that Simon was up to something sneaky… He drew his next card and gazed deeply down at it. It was a dreadful card that he had added to his deck in case of severe emergencies, and he just hoped he wouldn't have to use it. So he held onto it for the moment, and activated his dragon's effect again. The card he got was called **_BLACK PENDANT_**, but it wasn't much help to him yet if his Dragon couldn't attack, and with seven cards in his hand, he had to play something or discard a very useful card. So he placed one more card facedown and turned his dragon to defense-mode.

**_(Def: 2500)_**

He was hoping to lure Simon into attacking Power Tool twice so he could get rid of the potion card stuck to it.

"It looks like someone's running low on options." Simon taunted as he drew his next card. "Well, why don't I take a chance on things? I activate the **_GAMBLE_** trap card!" Since Cyborg had six cards in his hand, and he only had two, Simon was allowed to toss a coin and call it, Heads or Tails. He called Heads, and he got Heads. Now he was allowed to draw five new cards, if he failed he would have had to skip his next turn.

Now he had seven cards in his hand, and was ready to use them. "I activate the **_DEFUSION_** spell, and with it, I can split up my Cyber Twin Dragon in the monsters it was before."

So his Cyber Dragon and Cyber Dragon Zwei returned to the field. Now everything was set for him. He showed Cyborg one spell card in his hand, to treat Zwei as a Cyber Dragon, the very card he was going to use, "I play, **_POLYMERIZATION! _**Now I'll combine by two dragons on the field with another Cyber Dragon in my hand!**_"_**

"Three dragons?!" cried Cyborg, and he wondered what was coming now. He soon got his answer as the new fusion monster appeared; **_CYBER END DRAGON!_**

**_(Atk: 4000)_**

Cyborg gazed in awe at the dragon's three heads. Simon also explained that when his Cyber End attacked a monster in defense-mode it did piercing damage, meaning Cyborg would lose life points in the difference.

"And in case you were thinking that either of your two facedown cards would save you, think again." Simon said and he summoned **_CYBER PHOENIX!_**

**_(Atk: 1200)_**

With that creature out on the field, Simon could stop Cyborg from using any trap or spell against one machine monster, making his Cyber End Dragon virtually indestructible. "What am I gonna do?" he whimpered. He had to think fast, because Simon already ordered his dragon to attack.

Cyborg saw no other choice but to take the hit.

**_(Atk: 4000) VS (Def: 2500)_**

"All I have to do is getting rid of your potion card, and you can't destroy my monster."

"Perhaps, but your life points are a different matter."

**SCORE**

**_Cyborg: 3900 VS Simon: 11,600_**

His turn was over, and now Cyborg really had to think hard of how to get that Cyber Dragon out of the way. First his Dragon's ability activated letting him take another equip-spell, and he really liked the one he got this time. "All right, time for me to get rid of that overgrown metallic lizard for good." he said "First, I'm revealing my facedown **_LIMITER REMOVAL!"_**

That was a very good card. It doubled the power of Cyborg's dragon…

**_(Atk: 3300) Becomes (Atk: 6600)_**

"And while we're at it, let's give him a face down **_BLACK PENDANT_** to boost him up another 500."

**_(Atk: 6600) Becomes (Atk: 7100)_**

Now that I'm at it, maybe I'll give it this little baby that you just gave me, **_JUNK BARRAGE!"_**

Power Tool's attack didn't increase, much to Simon's confusion. "Oh, it's really simple. Cyborg gloated, you see first I'm gonna attack! Go Power Tool!"

**_(Atk: 7100) VS (Atk: 4000)_**

Simon braced himself as his best monster exploded behind him.

**SCORE**

**_Cyborg: 3900 VS Simon: 8500_**

"And now, here's the sweet deal on top. Since Power Tool's got Junk Barrage on him, and he destroyed your monster, half that monster's power gets chopped out of your life points.

"Ah!" groaned Simon as Power Tool blasted him with a magical glow ready to shave 2000 points off his score. "Hold on!" he shouted "I play the trap **_DAMAGE POLARIZER!"_**

Cyborg gasped in awe "And don't tell me, it lets you block the effect damage?"

Simon nodded "We also both get to draw one card each, but it looks like your plan backfired, and don't forget the secondary effect to your Limiter Removal. Now that your turn is ending, your dragon gets destroyed."

"Man, you just never listen, do you?" Cyborg asked in dismay "All I gotta do is get rid an equip spell, and Power Tool's goin' nowhere." So he got rid of the Black Pendant, which not only spared his dragon, but it dealt to Simon 500 points of damage.

**SCORE**

**_Cyborg: 3900 VS Simon: 8000_**

"Now I'll throw down two face-downs and end my turn."

Simon drew his next card "This will do extraordinarily well." he said "I activate the spell, **_CREATURE SWAP!"_**

"Say what?" sneered Cyborg. Now he and Simon were force to trade their only monsters on the field. So Cyborg got Cyber Phoenix, and Simon got Power Tool Dragon, and Cyborg couldn't stop it this time.

To make matters worse, while it was tempting to use Cyborg's own dragon against him. He preferred to get rid of it for good by sacrificing it to summon his third Cyber Dragon.

**_(Atk: 2100)_**

"My main man…! Gone just like that!" muttered Cyborg.

"Now I'll also activate this card, **_TIME FUSION!"_** A card that allowed him to remove one spell card in his hand from play, and then he could resummon a fusion monster from his graveyard, ignoring any summoning conditions. "Oh, no… not again!" groaned Cyborg, but indeed, the Cyber End Dragon was going to come back next turn. "But for now, Cyber Dragon, destroy Cyber Phoenix!"

**_(Atk: 2100) VS (Atk: 1200)_**

**SCORE**

**_Cyborg: 3000 VS Simon: 8000_**

"And since I destroyed it, but I'll place it face down."

Cyborg knew if that Cyber End Dragon returned on his next turn, he'd be in for it bad, but luckily he did have one plan to get his monster back. He drew his card. "You think you're the only one that can re-summon? Well two can play that." He said "I pay 800 life points and to use **_PREMATURE BURIAL!"_**

**SCORE**

**_Cyborg: 2200 VS Simon: 8000_**

"And guess who's come back for more…?"

His dragon had returned and well equipped with a card already, and he activated its power to let him get another equip spell. It wasn't what he hoped for, but it would help. "Now to tank him up with this baby; **_GRAVITY AXE- GRARL…!"_** It powered his dragon by 500 points, and forced Simon so his monsters couldn't change their battle positions.

**_(Atk: 2300) Becomes (Atk: 2700)_**

"Go for it!" Cyborg ordered his dragon to destroy the Cyber Dragon.

**_(Atk: 2700) VS (Atk: 2100)_**

**SCORE**

**_Cyborg: 2200 VS Simon: 7400_**

Cyborg had no choice now, but to end his turn, but he gazed at the only facedown card he still had on the field.

As Simon drew his card, the card he removed from play last turn returned to his hand. It was another Card from a Different Dimension. Now he and Cyborg drew two cards again, and the Cyber End Dragon appeared as promised, however, because it was summoned using a time fusion card, it couldn't attack, but Simon didn't mind. "It's been really fun." He said, but I'm afraid that all things must come to an end, and they are this duel and your time here on this planet."

It was at this time that Beast Boy Terra Raven and Copy-Cat had all met up while searching the city for the shadows, and they swore they could see glowing lights and fierce explosions coming from over in the play park. "Let's go check it out." Terra suggested.

With his Cyber end Dragon back on the field, Simon activate another Mystik Wok from his hand, sending the dragon back to the graveyard and boosting his life points by 4000.

**SCORE**

**_Cyborg: 2200 VS Simon: 11,400_**

Cyborg clenched his fist nervously and he was sweating hard over something that was really freaking him out. "And now…!" Simon said "I activate the spell **_POWER BOND _**so I can re-summon the Cyber End Dragon!"

"Wait a minute! Back up here!" Cyborgs snapped "You can't play that, you don't have any monsters to play."

Simon realized that, but it was fortunate for him that the last card in his hand helped him overrule that. "Behold my quick-play spell, **_CYBERNETIC FUSION SUPPORT!"_** and it allowed him to use Power Bond and if the monsters he needed were all in his graveyard, which they were, the fusion worked. "Now I banish the three Cyber Dragons from my graveyard, and once again summon my almighty **_CYBER END DRAGON!"_**

And since it was summoned with Power Bond, its attack was doubled.

**_(Atk: 4000) Becomes (Atk: 8000)_**

Cyborg was just heart struck. No matter what he did, he wouldn't be able to stop it now. One shot from that dragon, and his life points would be all out. _"I guess I'm gonna have to do it after all." _He thought nervously to himself.

That's when the others came running up the street and near the park. He couldn't see them, be they could see what going on. "What is happening?" asked Copy-Cat.

"I think we're about to find out…!" said Raven.

Simon's laughed more maliciously than he had ever laughed before. "Prepare yourself, for once my dragon attacks you, you'll be gone from this world and blasted into the Shadow Realm. Perhaps you shall think twice before challenging those of greater power than you."

With that, he ordered his mighty machine to attack, but Cyborg quickly gazed up. "Think again!" he said "I may not be able to win, but if I'm going down, I'm takin' you with me!"

"What?!" snarled Simon, and he saw Cyborg's facedown trap card activated. "What is that…?"

Cyborg grinned "A little thing I threw in in case of extra emergency called **_SELF DESTRUCT BUTTON_**, and once I press this baby, you and I are goin' down."

Since Simon had more than seven-thousand life points than Cyborg had, one touch of Cyborg's trap would send both scores down to zero!

"He can't do that." cried Terra.

"Dude, don't!" Beast Boy called.

But cyborg knew he had no choice, he was going to lose anyway, and at least this way they would both lose, and he did have faith in his friends and he knew they'd find the remaining shadows and end all this. "It's time for me to take one for the team!" he said proudly.

"No, wait…!" cried Simon, but Cyborg swung his arm back and slammed the button hard "BOO-YAH!"

"NO…!"

"CYBORG…!" the other Titans screamed as the entire duel area went up in a blazing explosion destroying the monsters, and blowing all the life points down to zero.

**FINAL SCORE**

**_Cyborg: "0000" VS Simon: "0000"_**

The shockwaves shorted out Cyborg's communicator ending the transmission, but the others explained that when the smoke cleared, both Cyborg and Simon were found unconscious, and both the evil spirit and Cyborg's soul vanished into the darkness. They tried to wake him up but, it was no use.

Now here they stood!

"Cyborg!" cried Starfire as she gazed over his motionless body, but she didn't know what else to say. All the Titans felt heartbroken and couldn't begin to imagine the horrors Cyborg was going through.

Somewhere, in the depths of the darkness, Cyborg felt himself floating around. He felt as if he had been in the head by a truck! "Where am I?" he wondered, and then he realized the horrors and nightmares all around him. Monsters, illusions, and even bad images of people mocking or abandoning him because of the way he looked, cyborg or non-cyborg. Even the Titans completely ignored him and just ran off to have a good time somewhere and left him all alone.

"No! Hey come back! Don't leave me here!"


	10. Breaking time

**CHAPTER TEN**

Raven and Copy Cat decided to head back out again. There was no point in staying around the tower. There were still two other shadows that needed to be beaten before Cyborg and the children were revived, and they weren't going to find them if they just hung around. Beast Boy offered to come with them, and Starfire and Robin would stay behind to look after Cyborg and the kids, Terra wanted to come along too, but this time all the others wouldn't hear of it. "No, Terra you better stay here too." Robin said "Think of the baby."

Terra tried to protest, but the others wouldn't let her, especially Beast Boy. He hated to do this to her but for once, as her husband, and for the sake of their unborn child, he had to be firm. "Terra, No!" he said. "I won't let you do it."

"Beast Boy…" Terra said in shock and she touched her stomach wrapped in the brace, and strangely she was reluctant to agree. It really was too risky. Already she had a near emotional trauma from what happened to Cyborg which was bad enough. Nobody even wanted to begin imagining if she tried to duel. "Terra…" Beast Boy said trying to apologize "I'm sorry… but-"

His wife placed her finger to his lips, and shook her head smiling. "It's all right. Believe me, I understand."

He held her hand, gently stroking it and promised her that everything would be okay. Then he Raven and Copy-Cat headed off. Terra sighed sadly and slumped down on a bed. For a moment she felt so totally useless, but at least Robin and Starfire were there, and they knew how she felt. They wanted to go back out there and take on the shadows too, but they were pretty beat form their last duels and someone needed to stay and look after the others, and her.

That reminded Robin that he had to check in with Von-Richter and Henry to report their status. He called the game shop and Henry answered the phone.

"Oh, my!" he said sounding concerned when he heard what happened to Cyborg. "I'm so dreadfully sorry to hear that…

Yes, yes I understand, we must keep fighting it is the only way to save him."

Then he hung up, and clenched his fists in frustration. He couldn't believe this was happening. Despite Cyborg being defeated it couldn't be denied that the Titans were tearing the shadows apart.

Suddenly, he had an idea of what to do next. _"Perhaps going after the Titans one at time isn't the answer…"_ He thought to himself _"After they work as a team either together or apart."_

His eyes then glowed red again and the last two shadows could be seen. He gave them instructions of what to do next, and that he himself would also now be taking things into his own hands. The shadows acknowledged and were off, and no sooner did Henry uncast the magic did he turn round and saw Von-Richter standing there with a horrid expression on his face. He had seen and heard everything. "I can't believe you, Henry! You're actually vorking for zee shadows?"

Henry snickered and his eyes glowed red just like the children, making Von-Richter realize that Henry was also being controlled by a sixth shadow. "Now that you know my secret…" he said as he suddenly grabbed Von-Richter by the collar and pinned him against the wall "I'm afraid you know what this means."

Von-Richter trembled in fear, and soon his scream echoed from way outside the game shop.

Raven Copy-Cat and Beast Boy were just around the corner when they heard that scream. "It's Von-Richter!" cried Beast Boy, and he dashed on ahead. "Beast Boy…!" Copy-Cat called as he and Raven dashed to catch up to him.

They arrived at the game shop to discover the place had been ransacked, and Von-Richter was lying unconscious on the floor. There was no questioning it. "They got him." Raven said sadly. All three of them felt really upset at the loss of another close friend, especially Beast Boy. This was the guy saved his life, who found the mixture of the serum used to same him from that fatal illness he caught when he was five and turned him green.

Suddenly, they could all hear a banging sound coming from the broom closet. That's where they found Henry all tired up and gagged. They untied him. "Oh, I'm so glad to see you all!" he cried, and he explained that indeed the remaining two shadows did come into the shop and took Von-Richter's soul. They bound and gagged and threw him in the closet with a note to give to them knowing they would come.

The note read…

_Come to the yard of the Murakami School, we will be waiting!_

"The Murakami School…?" Beast Boy asked remembering that was the same school where he first saw Terra when he didn't want to come back, and the school he attended before they really got back together. That school meant a lot to him, and his wife. "Let's go!" he said bravely. The others agreed and Henry offered to watch over Von-Richter. "Good luck my friends." He said as they headed off and then sneakily muttered "You shall need it."

It was time for him to seek out the other Titans, knowing they were back at the tower, and since Beast Boy had a great deal of affection for his Terra, it was obvious who his target was going to be.

Beast Boy Copy Cat and Raven made it to the yards outside the school, and it was indeed a messy sight. Windows were shattered; the fence beams were all bent. Even the _"Murakami School"_ sign was cracked in half and lying on the ground. "Perhaps we should announce our presence?" asked Copy Cat.

"Uh… how?" asked Raven.

Beast Boy drew in a deep breath and shouted "HEY! WE'RE HERE! COME AND GET US!" Then he asked the others, "Good enough?"

The others scratched their ears and suddenly two twin teenage girls came out of the building with the symbols on their heads."We've been expecting you." one of them said.

These girls were Tara and Ashley. They were indeed sisters, and both were top league duelists. "…The greatest tag team in the state." Tara said. "Together we're strong, and unbeatable." Ashley said "And together… we'll send you to the shadows."

They were issuing a tag team duel, two on two. Copy Cat agreed, "And I would be honored if Raven would join me and duel by my side."

Raven stood beside her boyfriend "Sure." she said with a brave smile.

The two sisters just gazed at one another snickering sinisterly. Beast Boy sat on the sidelines. This was it. The last two shadows. If Raven and Copy Cat could beat them, then the whole nightmare would be over and everything would go back to normal.

The girls however assured them they were not about to lose. They had been in many tag teamed duels and they were champions for a reason. "Our teamwork is top of its class." said Tara "Many have tried, but all have failed to best us." said Ashley

"Can we please just get started already?" Raven asked impatiently.

The rules were simple. First Tara would move, then Raven, then Ashley, then Copy Cat, then back to Tara. There would be no attacking on the first turns, and each duelist began with four-thousand life points. Both duelists on either side had to be knocked out to win, but those who lost would still have their souls taken and the remaining duelist would have to continue alone.

They drew their cards, and everything was ready. _"DUEL…!"_


	11. Tag, Who's It?: Part 1

**CHAPTER ELEVEN  
****(Part One)**

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 4000 & Ashley: 4000_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 4000 & Copy Cat: 4000_**

Tara when first, she drew her card. "For my first move, I shall place one card face down and that is all."

Raven and Copy Cat were confused why she didn't summon any monsters. True, no one was allowed to attack, but it still didn't make much sense for her not to play anything. Either she didn't have any monster at all, or she was up to something.

Copy Cat wished he had his foresight then he could read their minds and make the duel easier. Nevertheless it was Raven's move. "Here I go…" she said as she drew her card. _"I just hope I know what I'm doing."_ she thought to herself. "I summon **_DARK ELF!"_**

**_(Atk: 2000)_**

"And I'll place one card facedown." She ended her turn, and Beast Boy hoped she knew what she was doing, not having much training. Now it was Ashley's turn, but all she did was place two cards facedown and ended her turn without summoning a monster. Raven and Copy Cat exchanged confused looks, but the sisters were exchanging sinister glares at one another. _"Already they're falling for our ticks."_ they thought _"Just wait until they see what we really have waiting for them."_

It was Copy Cat's turn, he drew his card and summoned the Psychic/Tuner monster **_KREBONS!"_**

**_(Atk: 1200)_**

…and he ended his turn with one card facedown.

This was it now. Each player had made a move, now the duel could really commence. It was Tara's move, and she drew a card. "Now I activate the continuous-spell, **_CALL OF THE MUMMY!" _**That card allowed Tara to special summon Zombie monsters form her hand if she didn't have any. "I summon forth, **_RYU KOKKI!"_**

**_(Atk: 2400)_**

Raven and Copy Cat gasped that she was able to summon such a strong monster that quickly, and since she special summoned it, she could summon another monster normally. So she summoned **_ROYAL KEEPER!_**

**_(Atk: 1600)_**

While it was tempting to go after Raven's Dark Elf, she ordered the Royal Keeper to attack Krebons, and it did! However, after the explosion from the impact, and the smoke cleared, Krebons was unharmed due to its special effect, which let Copy Cat pay 800 of his life points to negate one attack.

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 4000 & Ashley: 4000_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 4000 & Copy Cat: 3200_**

Still, Tara did have her Ryu Kokki, and ordered it to attack Raven's Dark Elf. "I don't think so!" Raven snapped "I activate my quick-play spell, **_BOOK OF MOON!"_** With that card, Kokki was flipped to facedown defense-mode, canceling out his attack. Tara didn't even so much as flinch. "You might have escape that, but don't trust your luck to hold out." She said as she turned her Kokki back into attack-mode, and then flipped Royal Keeper facedown as was its ability, and when she flipped it up again, it would gain 300 extra attack points.

Raven couldn't let that happen, and planned to really let both the girls have it. She drew her card, but wondered who to attack. Ashley still had no monsters in play, but she did have two facedown cards. Copy-Cat gazed at her and realized she was in a split decision, and he began to wonder something about the sisters and why they acted so calmly. Even without his foresight he was able to understand facial expressions.

"Make your move!" Ashley sneered "Unless you're afraid too…?"

Raven hated it when people said that "I am not afraid!" she growled, "And you've just made up my mind for me! **_MAGICIAN'S VALKYRIA_** in attack-mode…!"

**_(Atk: 1600)_**

"And now, I think I'll add a little magic to my Dark Elf; **_BOUND WAND!"_** That spell increased Dark Elf's attack by 100 points times its level, giving it 400 extra points.

**_(Atk: 2000) Becomes (Atk: 2400)_**

"Now, if I want her to attack, I have to pay 1000 life points first so…" she did just that.

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 4000 & Ashley: 4000_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 3000 & Copy Cat: 3200_**

"Dark Elf, attack her life points directly!"

Tara and Ashley grinned wickedly. "You've fallen into our trap!" said Tara **_"CALL OF THE EARTHBOUND…!"_**

Raven recognized that card, it the one used when they first to attack the shadows and it made Starfire attack the team instead, for in the game, its power allowed the girls to redirect the attack to anywhere else instead. "You forget? We're playing a tag duel." Ashley said "That means one duelist always has the option of defending the other."

Copy Cat's eyes shinned behind his mask _"That is just what I needed to know."_ He thought to himself.

As for Raven's attack, the sisters redirected the attack so Dark Elf attacked Ryu Kokki, and since both monsters had equal attack points, they both would have been destroyed in battle, but because Raven had her Magician's Valkyria, other spellcaster type monsters she had couldn't be attacked, however, Tara pulled another surprise on her. Whenever Ryu Kokki was attacked by a warrior or spellcaster monster, that monster was destroyed automatically. So Dark Elf did end up going to graveyard. "Looks to me like you're little plan to outwit us backfired." Ashley taunted, but Raven was smiling wickedly "Shows what you know." she said, and her Dark Elf magically returned to the field, since it was equipped with the Bound Wand, and the Elf got destroyed by a card effect.

"Impressive…" said Ashley "But not good enough, I activate the trap **_NEEDLE CEILING!"_** With four monsters in play, she intended to destroy all the face up ones in attack-mode. Raven and Copy Cat would have lost all their monsters, if Copy Cat hadn't played his own trap; **_INTERDIMENSIONAL MATTER TRANSPORTER!_** It banished his Krebons off the field for one turn, stopping the Needle Ceiling, and sparing Raven's monsters.

They faced at each other and Raven pursed her lips from afar as if she had just pecked him and he smiled at her "If the two of you are able to protect each other… then we may do the same for each other." He said to the grumbling sisters.

Beast Boy was impressed. "For only a day or two of training, they sure are playing like pros." He said to himself.

It was still Raven's turn, and since it was still her battle-phase, she ordered her Magician to attack Ashley directly, and the attack pulled through dealing her a full 1600 points of damage.

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 4000 & Ashley: 2400_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 3000 & Copy Cat: 3200_**

She didn't dare attack with her Dark Elf again or it would cost her more life points. So she placed one card face down, and ended her turn. This made Krebons come back to the field to shield Copy Cat. Now it was Ashley's turn, and even though she was down in life points that didn't seem to bother her or her sister.

She drew her card and put a continuous spell of her own in play; **_BLACK WHIRLWIND._** Then she summoned a monster called **_BLACKWING- SHURA THE BLUE FLAME!_**

**_(Atk: 1800)_**

"A Blackwing monster…!" Beast Boy muttered. He knew of these cards and how tricky they were. He just hoped Raven and Copy Cat could handle them, but he wasn't allowed to give any information during duels.

"Now that I've summoned a Blackwing…" Ashley said "My Black Whirlwind card lets me add another blackwing to my hand as long as its attack is lower." She chose a creature called **_BLACKWING- BORA THE SPEAR,_** and since she already had another Blackwing monster in play, she was allowed to summon it immediately.

**_(Atk: 1700)_**

Raven and Copy Cat knew this wasn't going to go well, but stood their ground ready to take the hit. Ashley started by attacking Raven's Valkyria, as it was the only logical target. "Go, Blue Flame!"

**_(Atk: 1800) VS (Atk: 1600)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 4000 & Ashley: 2400_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 2800 & Copy Cat: 3200_**

Raven shook herself off from the force of the attack, and things were only about to get worse. Since Blue Flame destroyed a monster in battle, Ashley was allowed to special summon yet another Blackwing form her deck that had an attack up to 1500. "So I summon fort, **_BLACKWING- VAYU THE EMBLEM OF HONOR!"_**

**_(Atk: 800)_**

Despite that its attack was low, and it's special ability negated, Ashley didn't mind because now she was free to spring her trap; **_ICARUS ATTACK!_** All she had to do was sacrifice one winged-beast type monsters, like Vayu, and then she could destroy any two cards on the field. So Dark Elf and Krebons were destroyed, leaving raven and Copy Cat wide open, and since Raven was already weak, Ashley ordered Bora the Spear to attack Copy Cat directly.

Copy Cat braced himself for the powerful attack that struck him hard and dealt him 1700 points of damage.

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 4000 & Ashley: 2400_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 2800 & Copy Cat: 1500_**

"Copy Cat!" cried Raven.

Her boyfriend was fine, but the two of them realized that this was getting them nowhere. Both their scores were down badly and they were against a swarm of monsters. Still, they knew they couldn't give up. It was Copy Cat's turn and he drew his card. "Now…" he said "It is time to, as Earthlings say… _even things out."_

He started by playing his own continuous spell, **_TELEPORT! _**Since he had no monsters in play and his opponents did, he was allowed to pay 800 life points to special summon one Psychic monster from his hand,

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 4000 & Ashley: 2400_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 2800 & Copy Cat: 700_**

"And I shall summon forth, **_PSYCHIC JUMPER!"_**

**_(Atk: 100)_**

"And now, since I already have one psychic monster out I am permitted to summon this next one without a tribute; **_ARMORED AXON KICKER!"_**

**_(Atk: 2200)_**

"And if you believe that I am through, you are sorely mistake! Observe now as I tune both my followers together, combining their psychic powers… to bring forth **_THOUGHT RULER ARCHFIEND!"_**

**_(Atk: 2700)_**

The sisters gazed in awe at this new psychic monster, but to their shock, Copy Cat was still not done yet. "Finally, I shall activate **_POLYMERIZATION!"_** and he fused his Synchro monster, with another Psychic type monster in his hand to create and even better creature; **_ULTIMATE AXON KICKER!_**

**_(Atk: 2900)_**

"Wow!" Raven exclaimed softly.

"I don't believe it!" cried Tara

"It's not possible!" added Ashley.

"Oh, but it is…!" Copy Cat said. He went to explain that not only could his new monster not be destroyed by card effects, but if attacked a monster in defense mode, the controller would receive piercing damage to their life points. "No!" cried Tara, and Copy Cat ordered his monster to attack her facedown Royal Keeper!

**_(Atk: 2900) VS (Def: 1700)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 2800 & Ashley: 2400_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 2800 & Copy Cat: 700_**

"And what is more, now my life points are increased by the total attack of the monster I destroyed!" and his life points went up by 1600, putting him right back into things, and nearly equalizing the game.

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 2800 & Ashley: 2400_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 2800 & Copy Cat: 2300_**

The sisters were starting to feel that maybe they had underestimated their opponents, but still. They weren't about to be beaten. No tag team had ever beaten them before, and no one was about to now.

This duel was far from over!

**_To Be Continued…_**


	12. Tag, who's it?: Part 2

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

**(Part Two)**

Beast Boy only felt this sweaty when it really hot or he was really nervous or excited, and watching this duel, he just felt all three at once. With scores very close, and Copy Cat just pulling a tough monster out into play, he almost wished he had a tofu dog a soda to enjoy this, forgetting it a was shadow game!

It was Tara's turn…

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 2800 & Ashley: 2400_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 2800 & Copy Cat: 2300_**

"I must admit that you two aren't what we expected you'd be…" she said as she drew her card "But you may as well enjoy your accomplishment, because it will never happen again!"

"Will you please just move?" grumbled Raven.

Tara's evil eyes narrowed "As you wish. First of all, since I haven't any monsters, Call of the Mummy lets me summon a zombie from my hand. So come forth, **_PATRICIAN OF DARKNESS!"_**

**_(Atk: 2000)_**

_"What is this?"_ Copy Cat thought to himself _"Why would she summon that? It cannot take on my Axon Kicker. She must be up to something."_

The two sisters sniggered at one another, and Tara ended her turn with a facedown defense monster. _"If any of them try to attack now, they will fall right into our trap!"_ she thought wickedly. Now it was Raven's turn, "Finally…" she said gruffly as she drew her card. _"Huh…? What kind of card is this?"_ she thought grimly as she gaze what she had just drawn. It was just an ordinary leg in chains, but with hardly any attack points at all. _"What is it even doing in my deck?"_ It was of no use to her, but she did have another option. "I play **_POT OF GREED_**, so I can draw two more cards."

Raven got one card she needed, along with what looked a card just like the leg card she had, only it was an arm in chains. She didn't worry about that now, especially when Ashley taunted "Make you're move. You're not too afraid, are you?"

Raven's head throbbed in anger "I'm getting really tired of hearing that! I am not afraid, and I'm going to prove it with this! **_ANCIENT RULES…!"_** It allowed her to summon one high-level normal monster from her hand, and she had just the one; **_DARK MAGICIAN!_**

**_(Atk: 2500)_**

Now Raven had a very strong monster on the field as well, and she knew just who she was going to attack. "As much as I like blackbirds, I'm getting rid of those ugly things for good." And she ordered her magician to attack Bora the Spear when suddenly her magician aimed the wrong way. "What's it doing?" she asked.

Tara explained that with her Patrician of Darkness in play, she could control where opposing monster attacked. "I knew it!" Copy Cat grumbled "That is why she acted so confident."

Tara nodded and then forced Dark Magician to destroy her facedown monster instead, which was a **_PYRAMID TURTLE!_** Though it was destroyed, Tara was allowed to summon a new zombie from her deck with a defense up to 2000. So she summoned another turtle.

**_(Def: 1400)_**

It became clear to Raven and Copy Cat what was going to happen now. The sisters were going to direct all their attacks whichever way help. "Mind blowing, isn't it?" Ashley hissed "You both may as well give up now and spare yourselves the agony of a horrible defeat."

Raven and Copy Cat Refused, and Raven ended her turn. Now it was back to Ashley and her blackwings, but of course neither of her monsters was strong enough to take on the Dark Magician or the Axon Kicker, but after drawing her next card, she had just what she needed.

"I summon **_BLACKWING- GALE THE WHIRLWIND!"_**

**_(Atk: 1300)_**

Since she summoned a black wing, her Black Whirlwind let her get another Blackwing monster into her hand, but beside that. "Prepare to face one of my strong monsters. I shall tune Gale the Whirlwind to Shura the Blue Flame, and now behold… **_BLACKWING ARMOR MASTER…!"_**

**_(Atk: 2500)_**

As gigantic as this new monster was, its power was equal to the Dark Magician's. Raven and Copy-Cat didn't see the threat, but they had a feeling they were about to find out what it was. Ashley ordered her monster to attack Copy Cat's Ultimate Axon Kicker _"What?!"_ snapped Copy Cat and Raven; shocked that she would attack his monster with a weaker one.

The two monsters collided, and nothing happened. Ashley's couldn't be destroyed in battle, and she took no battle damage from the attack either. Then suddenly, something shiny and glowing appeared on Axon Kicker. "What is that?" Copy Cat demanded to know.

Ashley snickered and told him "You will know soon enough, but for now I shall place this card facedown, and switch my Bora the Spear into defense-mode!"

**_(Def: 800)_**

For now it was Copy Cat's turn, and he didn't understand what that glowing thing was on his monster. He really wished he had his foresight now to figure out what Ashley was up to, but for now, he only had one option and that was to play the card he drew, the only one he had. _"This card will help me and Raven immensely, but I pray that I do not give our opponents the same chance. I really do not have a choice."_

"I cast the spell **_CARD OF SANCTITY!"_** The power of that card forced everyone to draw until they each held six cards. It was all he could to replenish his and Raven's hands. Raven drew her cards and nodded at him thankfully, but the two sisters snickered wickedly. "That was very generous of him." Tara said "We ought to repay him for it somehow." added Ashley.

Copy Cat was growing annoyed with their teasing, and continued his move. "I shall lay these two cards facedown." he said, and he decided not to let the girls get to him. His monster still couldn't be destroyed by effects. "Now I attack Bora the Spear! Go Axon Kicker!"

Surprisingly, Tara didn't deflect his attack, because Ashley sprung a trap; **_NEGATE ATTACK! _**Even though his monster couldn't be destroyed by effects, it was able to be blocked. Copy-Cat had to end his turn.

Tara grinned wickedly as she took her turn. She really liked what she drew. It was time for her to get out a strong card. "I will sacrifice my Pyramid Turtle, and summon by all powerful **_VAMPIRE LORD!"_**

**_(Atk: 2000)_**

"But he shall not hang around long. I will now banish him from the game, so I may summon an even greater version of him, **_VAMPIRE GENESIS!"_**

**_(Atk: 3000)_**

Raven and Copy Cat growled in concern. That was the strongest monster in play, and while it was tempting for her to after Copy Cat's monster, she preferred to give Raven another taste of nightmares, and ordered an attack on the Dark Magician. "I reveal my trap; **_READY FOR INTERCEPTION_**!" snapped Raven, and it turned her Dark Magician into facedown defense-mode. So it got hit, but her life points were spared.

"Your luck still holds." Tara mocked "But then again, Patrician of Darkness, attack her directly!"

"No!" shouted Copy-Cat

"Raven, look out…!" cried Beast Boy, but Raven got struck hard and lost a good 2000 points.

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 2800 & Ashley: 2400_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 800 & Copy Cat: 2300_**

Raven barely managed to get back up again. "Are you alright?" Copy Cat asked to her.

"Yeah." She replied "But one more hit like that, and I'm history!"

Tara merely laughed at her. "For once, we actually agree on something, but for now I shall place three cards facedown, and end my turn."

Copy Cat apologized to Raven. "It was my fault for giving her the cards she needed."

"It's okay…" Raven said "She probably would've gotten it anyway, and besides, I can still duel." She drew her next card and found that it was another one of those weird piece cards. Now among her seven cards she was holding two legs and one arm. _"What kind of cards are these?"_ she kept asking herself, but at least she still had cards to get back at the girls.

Now it was Raven's move, and she decided she had had enough of these girls and their games. She planned to slow them down with a continuous spell card of her own; **_THE DARK DOOR!_**

With that card on the field, all the players were only permitted to attack with only one monster per turn. "And I'm going to knock down that Patrician with this, **_CHANGE OF HEART!"_** With that card she could take control of the Patrician of Darkness, and then she sacrificed it to summon a new magician; **_DARK MAGAICIAN GIRL!_** And since her Dark Magician was in the graveyard, its attack-power went up by 300.

**_(Atk: 2000) Becomes (Atk: 2300)_**

"Now I'll place one card face down, and I'll attack Bora the Spear!"

**_(Atk: 2300) VS (Def: 800)_**

It finally worked, but unfortunately, "My monster was in defense-mode, so my life points remain untouched." Ashley stated. Raven was aware of this. Her left eye was twitching and she grinded her teeth furiously. This wasn't like her at all showing off furious emotions. Then again, she didn't have her powers to hold her back and she was actually letting herself go loose.

"Raven…?" Copy Cat said "Raven…? You must not let your emotions get to you."

Raven tried her hardest to keep calm, but seeing her like this only made Copy Cat feel worse for playing his Card of Sanctity earlier.

Now it was Ashley's turn, and after drawing her card she had a full set of seven in her hand, and a wicked grin on her face to go with it. She then grinned with her sister, and Tara nodded in response for her to do it.

"Firstly, I shall instantly summon to my field another Blacking- Bora of the Spear!"

**_(Atk: 1700)_**

"But then, I shall sacrifice it to summon something even bigger that's going to clean you two out; **_BLACKWING- SIROCCO THE DAWN!"_**

**_(Atk: 2000)_**

This was very serious, because with that monster, Ashley now had the power to transfer the attack of all the Blackwings she had out to any single Blackwing monster she chose for one turn, and she chose her Armor Master, raising its attack to 4500.

Raven and Copy Cat stood there in near shock at such power, and to make matters worse, Ashley explained that the thing glowing on Copy Cat's Axon Kicker was a Wedge Counter—placed on any monster when her Armor Master attacked, and now she was going to remove it, and just like magic…

"The attack of my monster…! It has dropped to zero!" cried Copy Cat. "Indeed it has." Ashley hissed "And here I come, and to the shadows you'll go!"

With zero attack points, if Copy Cat's monster got hit, he'd lose the duel! "Blackwing Armor Master, attack!"

"No!" shouted Copy Cat, "Activate **_DEFUSION!"_** Thanks to that quick-play, his Axon disappeared and separated into the two monsters he fused to make it.

**_THOUGHT RULER ARCHFIEND: (Def: 2300)_**

And the other monster he used to make it…

**_PSYCHIC SNAIL: (Def: 1200)_**

Ashley growled in anger, but since the number of monsters changed, she still got to attack, and destroyed Thought Ruler Archfiend, but at least Copy Cat's life points were spared, and he got to play his trap; **_METAPHYSICAL REGENERATION!_** It let him gain 1000 life points for every psychic monster that was sent to the graveyard, only he gave those life points to Raven, knowing she needed them.

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 2800 & Ashley: 2400_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 1800 & Copy Cat: 2300_**

"Copy Cat…!" Raven peeped almost speechless for what he just did for her.

"Aw, how touching." Tara mocked.

"The man standing up for his lady fare." teased Ashley; she ended her turn and promised Copy Cat that this would be his last move. "Never!" shouted Copy Cat as he drew his card. _"I must pull through… for Raven."_

He had only one shot left to get those monsters off the field, but he could only attack with one monster this turn. He just hoped he knew what he was doing.

"Now I cast the spell, **_MONSTER REBORN!"_**and he used it to get back his Thought Ruler Archfiend. "Now I call forth **_POWER INJECTOR,_** in defense-mode!"

**_(Def: 1400)_**

He was panting stressfully, almost fearfully. "Now, I invoke its power, I will trade 600 points of my life…"

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 2800 & Ashley: 2400_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 1800 & Copy Cat: 1700_**

"In return, my psychic monsters receive 500 points of attack power."

**_(Atk: 2700) Becomes (Atk: 3200)_**

"And now, I will invoke the power of Psychic Snail, to trade 800 more of my life points!"

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 2800 & Ashley: 2400_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 1800 & Copy Cat: 900_**

"Dude, what are you doing?!" shouted Beast Boy.

"Copy Cat, stop!" cried Raven. It pained her and Beast Boy to see him just throwing away his life points like that, however, because he did now his Archfiend was allowed to attack twice on the same turn. His plan was to wipe out the Vampire Genesis, and then wipe Tara out. He had to protect Raven. "Attack!" he ordered.

His monster dove straight at the vampire, and Tara grinned and said "Activate Trap!"

"Ah!" remarked Copy Cat as he watched in horrors as she activate **_CALL OF THE HAUNTED_**, and she used it to revive her Patrician of Darkness back into play, and forced Thought Ruler to attack Blackwing Armor Master, twice. Dealing no damage, and not destroying it, and she also activated her **_DARK MIRROR FORCE_** trap, which removed Copy Cat's two defense monsters from play just like that.

Copy Cat, Raven, Beast Boy, all three of them gawked in horrors. "No…" peeped Copy Cat,

He knew there was only one thing he could do now, and he activated his last facedown trap card, **_PSYCHIC TRIGGER! _**Since his life points were lower than his opponents, he removed two psychic monsters from his graveyard, and he was allowed to draw two cards, however, he let Raven have them.

She immediately got the message. "No! Copy Cat, No!"

"Dude!" cried Beast Boy.

Tara only snickered as she drew her card. "Vampire, attack…!"

**_(Atk: 3000) VS (Atk: 2700)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 2800 & Ashley: 2400_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 1800 & Copy Cat: 600_**

Copy Cat was wide open now, and there was nothing that could be done. He gazed at Raven tearfully yet lovingly. "It is up to you now."

"No, you can't!" Raven cried, with tears falling from her eyes.

"Raven, I know you will triumph, because I believe in you, and remember… don't be afraid!"

That's when Tara played a spell card to ensure Copy Cat's demise, **_OKAZZI!_** Which drained him of 800 points.

**SCORE:**

**_Copy Cat: "0000"_**

When the smoke from the impact of the attack cleared, Copy Cat was still standing, only motionlessly and silently. Then, slowly, he fell forward, flat on the ground. Beast Boy couldn't believe it. "Not another one?" he peeped.

Raven, she just stood there, with her eyes wide, and she shook her head, and tried her hardest to hold in her every wish to break out sobbing and screamed, "COPY CAT!"

**_To Be Continued_****_…!_**

**_Author's notes:_**

**_Card of Sanctity's real effect is different in our world, but I had to use its anime rulings or I wouldn't have been able to make the duel work. Sometimes, you just have to bend the rules._**


	13. Tag, who's it?: Part 3

**_Author's notes:_**

**_Silly me, last chapter I forgot The Dark Door was still in play._**

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN  
****(Part Three)**

Copy Cat found himself running through a never ending stream of darkness. He knew the Shadow Realm was nightmarish, but he didn't think it would ever be that bad. Everywhere he turned he saw shadows and beasts coming after him, and he still didn't have his powers to help them. "I must not believe in this!" he kept on telling himself "I cannot let the darkness confuse me."

Suddenly he felt something grab him by the arm and pulled him to the side. Copy Cat raised his arms ready to fight.

"Whoa, whoa…! Easy, man."

"Cyborg!" cried Copy Cat "Is it really you?"

Cyborg nodded "So they got you too, huh?"

"I am afraid so…" he said.

Cyborg told him never to mind that and follow him. He wanted to show him something he probably wouldn't believe.

Raven was on her knees and her mind was almost completely as lost as her heart. Aside from her, her boyfriend's body lay perfectly still on the ground until Beast Boy came to get him out of the way, but the sisters didn't stop taunting them about it. "There goes another soul into the dark abyss of the Shadow Realm, to wander the emptiness for eternity!" Tara sneered.

Raven hardly even responded. She just remained where she was in complete devastation, until Beast Boy called out to her to get up. "You can still with this! Do it for Copy Cat! He helped you, remember?"

Raven acknowledged this and knew he was right. She wiped the tears off her eyes, and found her strength to get up again, and she drew the two cards that Copy Cat gave her. "Are you still wishing to continue?" Ashley asked "Surely by now you would realize you don't stand a chance against us both standing on your own."

"I don't care!" Raven said with her teeth clenched together "I am not going to let you two get away with what you did to Copy Cat." So the match continued.

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 2800 & Ashley: 2400_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 1800 _**

It was Raven's turn, and she drew on her draw phase. Now she had six cards in her hand, but was still confused by the three pieces cards, and suddenly she remembered what these cards were.

While the Titans were assembling their decks, Beast Boy suggested Raven added five special cards to her deck, as he felt she would really need them in hard times, but Raven refused to add them, and then it became obvious to her that Beast Boy must have slipped them into her deck while she wasn't watching.

"Beast Boy!" she snapped

"Trust me!" Beast Boy called to her, knowing what she was talking about "Those cards will help you."

The sisters were losing their patience. "Silence…!" Tara snapped at Beast Boy "No help from the sidelines!" growled Ashley "Remember, we can bashing you to the Shadows even without dueling you."

Beast Boy decided to keep quiet, however, Ravens suddenly remembered what she learned about the cards she had during her short training session, and they were no ordinary body parts…

_Duel monsters contained only one unstoppable monster; Exodia The Forbidden One! Only by drawing all five cards into your hand will you ensure an automatic victory in any duel no matter what's happening._

So far Raven had three pieces, leaving two to go, but for now, she still had to worry about her defense. Now she was really going to get tough. "First I activate **_REMOVE TRAP!" _**She used it to destroy Tara's Call of the Haunted, sending her Patrician of Darkness back to the graveyard.

Tara growled in frustration.

"Now, I'll place one card facedown, and attack with Dark Magician Girl! Destroy Sirocco!"

**_(Atk: 2300) VS (Atk: 2000)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 2800 & Ashley: 2100_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 1800 _**

"That does it!" snapped Ashley as she drew her card. "I think it's time I taught you a lesson you won't forget."

Since she could only attack with one monster, she skipped summoning anything and ordered her Blackwing Armor Master to attack, and that was exactly what Raven was hoping for. "You fell right into a trap; **_DARK RENEWAL!"_**

The sisters gasped in shock, as Raven's new trap took one of her monsters, Dark Magician Girl, and stole the Armor Master, and allowed her to bring back one monster from her graveyard, **_DARK MAGICIAN!_**

**_(Atk: 2500)_**

"How could you let her take your monsters like that?" snapped Tara.

"How was I supposed to know she'd pull a trap on me?"

Ashley still had options, and summoned a monster in facedown defense mode, and placed one card facedown, ending her turn. Now, since Copy Cat was out, the turn skipped right to Tara. She drew her card, and the only monster she had that could attack the Dark Magician was her Vampire, but she actually wasn't sure if it was right to attack. What if the other card Raven had was a trap? Ashley already had lost her best monster. Was she willing to take the risk?

She could only attack once! Raven noticed she was stalling. "What's the matter? You're not afraid are you?" she mocked.

Tara angrily blinked her eyes. Even Ashley was getting angry. "What are you waiting for? Attack her!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" snapped Tara, but she had to make up her mind, and she decided not to attack. "If you think I will fall for your obvious trap, you are mistaken! So I shall set one card facedown and end my turn."

Raven smiled cheekily as she drew her next card. "Too bad... You should have attacked when you had the chance." she said.

"What?!" snapped Tara, and that's Raven revealed her hidden wasn't a trap, but rather a spell called **_ALLURE OF DARKNESS! _**Tara couldn't believe she had fallen for such a bluff. Now Raven was allowed to draw two more cards, as long as she banished on dark type monster form her hand, which she did, and one of the two cards she drew was another Exodia card. Now she only needed one more to complete the set, but hopefully she wouldn't need to, she also drew two cards that would really help her, a lot!

She cast the spell **_BRAIN CONTROL!_** First she had to pay 800 life points…

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 2800 & Ashley: 2100_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 1000 _**

Now she could take control of the Vampire Genesis. "No!" cried Tara.

Raven snickered and then she sacrificed both it and the Dark Magician to summon the strongest magician she had. "I summon… **_DARK MAGICIAN OF CHAOS…!"_**

**_(Atk: 2800)_**

The girls gazed in awe at the new monster, and thanks to its power, as it was summoned; Raven was allowed to add one spell card to her hand, and she knew just which one to take, **_BOUND WAND!_** With it, her Dark Magician of Chaos received 100 attack points for each of its stars in its level, giving it 800 extra points, for a grand total of 3600!

Now the Tara was wide open. One direct attack would knock her out, and she thought she'd start with Tara for wiping out her boyfriend. "This one's for Copy Cat!" she sneered "Magician, attack!"

"Sister!" cried Ashley, as the magician dove straight for Tara's life points, but Tara revealed a quick-play spell she had facedown; **_DARK WALL OF WIND!_** Her life points were shielded from any direct attack, and even if Raven was allowed to attack again, which she was not, it wouldn't work.

"I've got to be dreaming!" snapped Raven.

The sisters laughed, and Beast Boy was outraged. "Hang in there, Raven!"

Ashley then gazed at him from afar "You waste your time cheering for this girl, when in fact she is about to feel the same wrath as your friend. It's all over for you now!"

Meanwhile, Copy Cat and Cyborg had been running for what seemed like a long, long way, until finally they got to where Cyborg wanted to bring Copy Cat. He gazed in amazement. All over there were golden glowing bubbles floating around where many of the captured souls were imprisoned and they all seemed to be in a deep and motionless sleep.

Cyborg found them all that one area while running from the nightmares that were chasing him around. He even found the souls of all the kids they had dueled, but nothing he did woke them up or made them even flinch.

"But then why are not in the same positions?" asked Copy Cat "I have never seen any magic like this before."

"I don't know." Cyborg said "Things are already spooky enough as it is; I sure hope things don't get any worse."

"It is my move!" Ashley said, and she regained control of her blackwing monster, "And now I'm going to make you pay for everything that you've put us through. "I summon another **_BLACKWING- VAYU THE EMBLEM OF HONOR!_**

**_(Atk: 800)_**

Next she removed from play both it and her facedown blackwing, to special summon the most devastating blackwing she could bring out; **_BLACKWING- AURORA THE NORTHERN LIGHTS!_**

**_(Atk :?)_**

"And did I mention its special ability? I can remove one Blackwing Synchro monster I haven't summoned from the game, and my new blackwing turns into a perfect replica of that creature for one turn!"

Raven stood her ground and watched as the monster transformed into one of Ashley's best Blackwings of them all, **_BLACKWING- SILVERWIND THE ASCENDANT!_**

**_(Atk: 2800)_**

Even though the monster was too weak to attack, Silverwind's special ability allowed Ashley to destroy Raven's magician instantly as its defense was lower than its attack power.

However, since the Bound Wand was still equipped to it, the magician returned, and Ashley wasn't allowed to attack, but now it was Tara's turn and she could, and with just the four cards she had, the sisters' victory was assured.

"I activate the spell, **_TRIBUTE TO THE DOOMED!"_** By discarding one card in her hand she was allowed to destroy one monster on the field, but rather than destroy Raven's magician, Tara chose to destroy her sister's monster, which Ashley let her do. So Aurora of the Northern Lights was gone, and now Tara had the power to play a quick-play spell form her hand called **_"A DEAL WITH THE DARK RULER!"_** It was only allowed to be activated whenever a monster the girls controlled with eight stars or more was sent to the graveyard. "And now…!" sneered Tara prepared to feel the wrath of the most devastating monster that either of us can conjure!

The duel field rumbled and quaked as a dark light shone down from the skies. Raven shielded her eyes from the sudden brightness that flashed and as the light vanished, she could see the new monster, **_BERSERK DRAGON!_**

**_(Atk: 3500)_**

Raven gazed up in fear at the monster without even blinking, and Beast Boy was just as shocked. "Dude, what a monster!" he peeped.

The sisters told Raven that her demise was near, and they both ordered their dragon to destroy her magician for good.

**_(Atk: 3500) VS (Atk: 2800)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Tara: 2800 & Ashley: 2100_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 300 _**

"Raven!" cried Beast Boy.

Her magician was gone, and she had nothing left to defend herself with. Of course, the dragon lost 500 attack points every turn, but it was still strong enough to wipe her out next turn. It also had the special ability of attacking four monsters all at once.

"Four whole monsters?!" cried Raven. Now she was really in trouble. All she had in her hand were the four Exodia cards she had been hanging onto. Despite that each individual piece was also a monster; she couldn't summon them all at once, and even if she could they were weak, and wouldn't stand much of a chance against anything, especially that dragon as it would wipe out them all at once.

Raven was almost feeling ready to march over to Beast Boy and strangle him to death for putting those cards into her deck and slowing her up like this, but she suddenly realized that maybe there was still hope for her. She reached to draw her last card, but her hand was trembling nervously.

"Look at her…" Ashley mocked "She's gone all to pieces again."

Raven gazed up at them with a mixed expression of anger and fear, realizing that "I… I am afraid!" she peeped softly. She was so afraid it almost as if her deck was sensing her fear and moved away from her, even though it was in its pack on her wrist.

Beast Boy could see she was losing confidence. "Raven!" he called out to her "Keep it together. Think about Copy Cat, and everyone else!"

The sisters angrily gazed at Beast Boy, but Raven realized he was right. Copy Cat sacrificed himself to save her, and give her the chance to make it this far, and if she lost this duel, then the two shadows would be free to cause more trouble. She wasn't about to let that happen and swiftly drew her last card.

"It matters not what you draw." snapped Tara.

"There is nothing you can do to save your soul from the shadows now!" added Ashley, but Raven's body was glowing along with her cards. Her eyes snapped open and she gazed wickedly yet angrily at the girls. "There is one thing I can do." she said "And that's take you both out in this one turn!"

The girls thought she was bluffing, but she wasn't and she raised her five cards up high, "I summon **_EXODIA THE FORBIDDEN ONE!"_**

The girls screamed in horror _"IMPOSSIBLE…!"_

The five cards Raven had rose into the air and glowed magically unlocking the sealed portal, and the giant monster appeared. "Exodia…!" cried Tara "This can't be happening!"

Ashely looked over all her cards, and was really worried "Sister, we've got to do something!"

"There's nothing we can do. Not against that thing!"

Raven smiled wickedly. "At first I thought I'd never be able to beat you separately, but thanks to Copy Cat, and even Beast Boy… I now have what I need to take you both out in one shot!"

Exodia began to power up, ready for the big blast. The girls began to panic and blame each other for letting this happen, but it changed nothing. "Exoida… OBLITERATE!" shouted Raven, and her enormous monster fired the biggest blast anyone had ever seen wiping out all the cards on the sisters' side of the field, and wiping out their scores.

**FINAL-SCORE:**

**_Tara: "0000" & Ashley: "0000"_**

**_VS_**

**_Raven: 300_**

And in the midst of it all, the last two shadows were ejected from the girls' bodies and were vanquished into the darkness. Beast Boy leapt for joy. "Raven, you did it!"

Raven could hardly believe it herself, but it was true. She really did it. However, something was wrong. The shadow environment didn't even begin to show signs of disappearing, and Copy Cat was still unconscious. "But, I thought those were the last of the shadows?" Raven asked in frustration.

Suddenly, their communicators went off. Robin was calling them back to the tower badly. _"Terra's dueling!"_ he cried.

"What?!" snapped Beast Boy "Terra…?" and after he and the others specifically warned her not to, but who was she dueling if all the shadows were beaten? "We better get back, now!" cried Beast Boy. Raven nodded, and both of them carrying Copy Cat they headed back to the tower as fast as they could.


	14. Return of the King

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

It all started way back at the tower, sometime after Beast Boy Raven and Copy Cat headed off the tower began to rumble and quake again as a large swarm of monsters surrounded it from all directions. The monster, however, didn't attack and Henry was there too.

Soon it was revealed that he too was possessed by a sixth shadow, the leader of them all who had come seeking his revenge on them for vanquishing all his servants. "You have done well to make it this far…" he said "But I'm afraid that your winning streak ends here." And with that he transformed into an evil and despicable looking creature, almost half human half monster.

"I am the king of all shadows and the binder of light." he hissed in his sinister voice. "As long as I exist, my shadows can never truly be vanquished."

That was all the team needed to know. If they dueled and beat him, then the nightmare would truly be over. "I'll take you on!" Robin said, but the shadow king shook his head. As much as he wanted to get all the others out of his way, "We are ill-matched in strength."

Robin was still tired from losing a lot of his spiritual energy form his last duel with Darwin, so was Starfire. If they tried to duel they would get overly exhausted. "However, there is one of you who still have yet to draw her cards. Isn't that right…Terra?"

Terra gulped nervously and tried hard to keep her cool. Starfire and Robin weren't about to let her duel, and insisted he duel one of them, but the king was insistent. "I have challenged the girl to a duel, and so it shall be. Remember, I can exile any of you to the Shadow Realm any time that I wish, of course that wouldn't be as entertaining as watching your squirm."

Robin and Starfire were still not willing to let Terra go through with it, but Terra finally stood up. "Fine then!" she snapped.

"Terra!" snapped Robin.

"You cannot!" cried Starfire.

"I can, and I will." Terra said "You guys are too weak and the others would get back in time. We don't have a choice."

The others tried, almost forcibly to stop her, but even the king was growing impatient with their interfering and actually blocked them with a force field. "This is should prevent you from butting in."

Terra was still free to move, but she preferred to duel sitting down in an armchair due to her pregnancy. "As you wish." hissed the king "It really doesn't matter that much to me."

They drew the cards, and Terra only hoped she knew what she was doing. She had no idea what kind of cards the king was planning to use, but knowing that he had been in Henry's games hop, he was bound to have deadly ones. _"DUEL!"_ they shouted.

**SCORE:**

**_Terra: 8000 VS Shadow King: 8000_**

Terra went first, she drew her card. "I summon one monster face down in defense-mode. Now I'll place one card facedown and end my turn."

"Hah! Is that the best you can do?" the king mocked as he drew his card. "You have much to learn about this game, my dear." He showed her no mercy at all by playing a **_COLD WAVE_** spell card, which made it so traps and spells couldn't be set or even activated until his next turn, making whatever Terra's facedown was, useless. Then to get rid of Terra's monster he played **_NOBLEMAN OF CROSSOUT!_** It removed her facedown monster from play just like that. The monster was **_LEVEL JAR, _**and Terra knew that since it had a flip effect she was now forced to remove every duplicate of that card she had from her.

"Terra!" cried Starfire.

"She's wide open!" added Robin.

"Indeed she is…" hissed the king "The perfect prey for my **_SPEAR DRAGON!"_**

**_(Atk: 1900)_**

"A dragon type monster!" cried Terra. The king snickered and then proceeded to attack her life points directly. Terra gripped onto the chair tight, bracing for the impact. It hit her full force, but she felt okay, except for her life points.

**SCORE:**

**_Terra: 6100 VS Shadow King: 8000_**

Starfire could hardly bear to watch this, and Robin comforted her, but really he couldn't believe were they were, trapped behind the barrier, unable to do anything. However, the Spear Dragon was forced into defense-mode as part of its ability.

**_(Def: 0)_**

It was Terra's turn, but she had to play carefully knowing that she still couldn't play any spells or traps. She drew her card, "Anyone for a little dragon mashing?" she teased "I summon **_GOLEM SENTRY!"_**

**_(Atk: 800)_**

"Let's roll, rock! Crush that dragon!"

The king growled as he watched his dragon fall, but his life points were spared for it being in defense-mode. After that, Terra used her monster's ability and flipped it into facedown defense-mode, and with its defense at 1800 it was hard to attack.

Now it was the king's turn. "Concealing your monsters will not save you, my dear." he hissed.

"Don't try that on me!" Terra sneered "Many have tried that old mind game trick with me before, and it doesn't work anymore. Just make your move."

"Very well… I shall use **_POT OF GREED_** so I may draw two cards, then I place one card facedown. And now I shall summon **_GAIA THE SOUL COMBUSTIBLE COLECTIBLE_**

**_(Atk: 2000)_**

"Huh?" remarked Terra "An insect monster?"

"Hey, he's not dueling with a single deck theme." said Robin.

The king admitted this. "After all, when faced in battles it is always favorable to keep your opponents guessing, then there are no ways for them to be prepared for what shall happen next. Such as, when my Gaia attacks a monster in defense-mode your life points take the damage in the difference." Then he ordered his Gaia to attack. "I don't think so!" Terra snapped, "Trap, activate- **_A FIENT PLAN!" _**That card prevented her facedown monsters from being attacked.

The king knew he had been outsmarted, but it wasn't the first time, and it didn't seem to even bother him. "Very well, it's your move, my dear."

"Fine by me…!" Terra said as she drew her card "And I'll start by flipping my Golem Sentry into attack-mode!"

**_(Atk: 800)_**

"And by doing that, I can return one monster on your field back to your hand."

The king growled as his Gaia vanished leaving him wide open. "Now, I summon **_GRAVE OHJA!"_**

**_(Atk: 1600)_**

"And while I'm at it, I think it's time we made these rock stars feel at home." Terra played a field spell known as **_CATAPAULT ZONE!_** This warped the whole field into a rocky terrain with weapons and catapults all over the place. It didn't give Terra's monsters any power ups, but once per turn, all she had to do was send one rock monster from her deck to the graveyard and she could shield her monster from being destroyed.

"I see. Not a bad move if I do say." remarked the king, but Terra took that as a teaser, and swiftly ordered both her boys at attack him directly. "But that was a very stupid move." The king jeered at her, and he activated a special trap; **_METAL-REFLECT SLIME!_**

**_(Def: 3000)_**

"What the…?" cried Terra.

"What is that?" asked Starfire. Even Robin but it looked like both a trap and a monster, to which the king explained that it was indeed, and even though it had no attack-points or was even allowed to attack, Terra couldn't get through. "Fine then…!" Terra growled "I'll turn Golem Sentry facedown again, and end my turn."

_"I just wonder what he's going to try next."_ she thought nervously.

The king could read her expressions and could tell he was starting to break her in. He drew his card. "First, **_GRACEFUL CHARITY_** lets me draw three cards, and then I discard two." He grinned at what he drew, and what he discarded. "And now, I invoke the powers of **_MONSTER REBORN, _**and with it I can revive a monster I had just discarded **_DARK DRICERATOPS!"_**

**_(Atk: 2400)_**

Terra did her best to keep her cool, but it didn't help that the king warned her that if his dinosaur attacked a defensive monster, she'd take piercing damage. "Ah!" gasped Terra and the king ordered his monster to attack her facedown Golem Sentry, he couldn't attack Ohja as long as there was a facedown monster.

**_(Atk: 2400) VS (Def: 1800)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Terra: 5500 VS Shadow King: 8000_**

Luckily Terra was able to spare her monster by sending one rock monster to the graveyard, thanks to the Catapult Zone, but the king didn't think of it much a bother, and set a monster in defense-mode, and placed one card facedown, ending his turn.

Now it was Terra's turn again, and she had to strategize carefully, but luckily she had a chance to try something big. "This card worked for you, so now I'll use it. **_MONSTER REBORN…!" _**and she used it to re-summon the monster that she just threw out from her deck; **_HIERASCOPESPHINX!_**

**_(Atk: 2400)_**

Terra wasn't able to attack the Metal Reflect Slime, but she did order her monster to attack the facedown monster, which she should not have done as it was a **_PENGUIN SOILDER!_** And even though it was destroyed, she was forced to send both her Sphinx and her Golem Sentry back to her hand, and as soon as she summoned her sentry right back to the field did she fall straight into another of the king's traps; **_TORENTIAL TRIBUTE._**

Now all the monsters in the field were destroyed, even the king's Metal Reflect Slime. Terra was finding it more and more difficult to keep her cool. "I place ne card face down, and I end my turn." she said sounding nervous.

The king drew his next card, "Well, this has been rather fun." he said "But I really must be ending this."

"What?!" snapped Terra.

_"Huh?!"_ remarked Robin and Starfire.

"But first I shall deal with your facedown card with **_MYSTICAL SPACE TYPHOON!"_**

"No!" cried Terra as her card was shattered. She was wide open once again, and the king promised, this was her end. "I activate **_POLYMERIZATION_** and I will fuse together, **_GAIA THE FIERCE KNIGHT_**, and the mighty **_CURSE OF DRAGON...!"_**

Terra watched in horror as a new fusion monster appeared, **_GAIA THE DRAGON CHAMPION!_**

**_(Atk: 2600)_**

Robin and Starfire pounded helplessly on the barrier. _"Terra…!"_ they shouted, as she got attacked directly.

**SCORE:**

**_Terra: 2900 VS Shadow King: 8000_**

"And finally, I use **_DEFUSION!"_** shouted the king, and his two monster separated.

Terra couldn't believe this was happening, and right at that very moment, did Beast Boy and Raven come back with Copy Cat, still unconscious, "TERRA…!" cried Beast Boy. His wife turned to face him just as the two monsters struck her full force, and depleted the rest of her life points. "Beast… Boy…!" she cried before passing out.

Beast Boy felt as if his insides had gone through a shredder. Tears were filling in his eyes. "TERRA…!"

Copy Cat and Cyborg were still examining the captured souls, when suddenly another one was added- just appearing out of nowhere. "Whoa…!" cried Cyborg when he realized who it was.

"No…" peeped Copy Cat "It cannot be…" but it was. It was Terra, which could only mean she lost a duel as well!


	15. Shadow's Motivation

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

Terra awoke to find Cyborg and Copy Cat staring down at her. "Guys?" she cried "You're okay…?"

The guys gazed at each and didn't know how to say this to her, but Terra quickly caught on when she remembered she lost her duel. She also discovered she wasn't pregnant anymore, but then that was expected as bodies got pregnant, souls didn't. "What is this place?" she asked.

The guys had a lot of explaining to do, and by the time they were finished Terra was horrified and worried, especially about her body and what could happen to the baby, but she did know the only way out. "The Shadow King has to be beaten in a duel. It's the only way we can end all this."

"Of course…!" Copy Cat said "He created all this, and his downfall will end it."

"Uh, one thingy though." Cyborg pointed out "We've already blew our chances.

He had a point. So far all but one of them had dueled…!

Beast Boy wished that he and Raven got back sooner, but they had to bring the twin girls to the nearby hospital first, which slowed them down. "Terra." He peeped softly as he kneeled down by his unconscious wife. He skin still felt warm. The other titans felt devastated and heartbroken for him. "I won't lose you to the Shadow Realm!" he sobbed, and then he had flashbacks of all their most wonderful times, even if their bad times were in the way they still pull through.

All their many dates… the many times they kissed… their wedding… honeymoon, and the day finding out she was pregnant.

"Oh, how tearfully sad." The Shadow King taunted pretending to care. Beast Boy's anger snapped "YOU…!" he thundered as he set Terra down gently and began to charge at the king, only to be blasted back by magic.

"Beast Boy!" cried Starfire. He was all right, but the king simply scoffed at him "Fool! Is that any way for you to treat the new ruler of this world? Feel fortunate that I still require you, or I would have exiled you to the shadows already!"

"What do you mean, you require me?" Beast Boy demanded to know.

"I'm glad that you ask…" and the king described how even after five-thousand years he still remembered the good old days when he and his shadows ruled, until that cursed pharaoh used his sources to banish them all into the very darkness they created and entombing them.

Their minds had been locked away for so long that their bodies died out due to lack of nourishment and physical care.

Even though the shadows were evil, even Raven thought that was just awful.

The king continued to explain that while he and his shadows spent century after century in prison the only thing that kept them going all that time was the thought of one day being released and to once again reclaim the Earth and consume in the darkness. It even amazed to realize that their precious shadow games had in fact be reincarnated into a simple modern day card game.

Upon being released, the king and his shadows felt ever so relieved, but they still lacked proper bodies to house their dark spirits within to properly put their plot into action. Furthermore, this new card game of duel monsters featured new rules and new sorts of creatures that were never before seen, even way back in ancient times.

It was decided that they would take over the bodies of expert gamers who had high level skills and knowledge of the game. That's where all the kids came in, but little did they expect that the Titans would be so persistent and cause them much trouble. Even though all five of the other shadows were defeated, several of the Titans had also paid the price of crossing their paths.

Cyborg…

Copy Cat…

…Terra too!

"And soon, you and the rest of your friends will join them in eternal darkness, while the shadows consume the entire Earth, binding out all the light and sending everything is touches into chaos!"

The Titans were really starting to lose their patience with this creep. "Wait!" Robin asked "What does this have to do with Beast Boy? What do you want from him?"

The king explained that while he had control of Henry's body to provide him with the information on so many cards and strategies of the game were useful, what he desired most was a younger, stronger body; one with as much skill and knowledge of the game.

"You want my body?" snapped Beast Boy

"Yes." hissed the king "You see, I have been observing your friends and the duel styles, as much they were able to aid them to now, they simply won't do, but yours is another story. You have all the necessary requirements for me, but first I must vanquish you in a duel. Only then will your body be free for me to take over, while you end up wallowing in the Shadow Realm for all eternity!"

"You will do no such thing!" snarled Starfire.

"You can't have his body!" added Robin.

Even Beast Boy agreed with them "If you think I'm just going to let you get to me, your mistaken, dude! So, you can forget about dueling me."

The king suspected he would try and weasel his way out of it. "I'm afraid you haven't much of a choice." he mere said "Don't you want your friends to return?"

"Huh?" remarked Beast Boy.

"Don't you want a chance to save the world? What about your wife?"

"Terra…!" cried Beast Boy and he realized it all. If this guy and his shadows weren't put of action and soon, Terra and the others would probably be lost forever. He also worried about the baby, and the rest of the world. He was the only one left who hadn't dueled, and there was no way the others could duel for him with their strengths still weakened from their matches.

"Fine!" he said as he bolted upright. "You wanna fight, bring it!"

"Beast Boy, No!" Raven called to him "Don't try being the big hero."

"I have to." Beast Boy said "Don't you get it? You guys have done enough already, and even though you don't know much about the game, I can't believe you've actually helped us to get this far, now it's my turn to take a whack at it."

"But Beast Boy… what if you lose?" asked Robin.

Beast Boy gave him the sharpest look ever and put it plain and simple. "I won't!"

The others could tell there was no talking him out of it. "That's what I like to see; determination!" smirked the king _"Although it really doesn't matter to me what you decide. In the end, I shall be the ultimate victor."_ he thought sinisterly.

As the inside of the tower was too cramped for the duel, and the king wanted a little more excitement, he felt the best place for a duel like this was on the roof, wide out in the open where the shadows and many monsters could view it for themselves. "Beast Boy, wait…!" cried Robin.

"Uh, uh, uh…!" snapped the king as he fired a warning shot right past him "Don't even think about revealing my strategies, any of you, or I banish you all to the Shadow Realm immediately!"

"…Can't argue with that." Raven said nervously.

After getting Terra and Copy Cat into the sickbay and hooked into life support so their conditions wouldn't get fatal, they all joined Beast Boy and the king on the undamaged roof. The two of them stood at opposite end near the landing target area. Best Boy gazed all his cards, _"This is it you guys."_ he thought to them _"I hope you guys know what to do, because for once, I don't think I do except to duel my best!"_

_"This fool's courage is admirable." _thought the king _"But since I've magically changed most of the cards in my deck, he won't have any much of an easier time than his wife did."_

Raven Robin and Starfire never felt so nervous in a long time, but neither could imagine how nervous Beast Boy was feeling, but each of them were sending him all their faith and believed he could do it, because if he couldn't… they were all doomed.

The king and Beast Boy drew their first cards and shouted for the match to begin. _"DUEL…!"_


	16. Part 1: The card he'd been waiting for

_**Author's notes:**_

_**There's one rule for one card I had to MEGA FUDGE in order to make things work. I researched for days, but there was no other possible move BB could've with the number of cards he had, or the kind he was ALLOWED to have, or ones he hadn't already used.**_

_**Take that, Pineapple.**_

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

**(Part One)**

The duel was on…!

**SCORE:**

**_Beast Boy: 8000 VS Shadow King: 8000_**

"Shall we begin then?" asked the king. "Fine by me!" snarled Beast Boy.

The king went first and drew his card. "Now I summon forth **_VAMPIRIC LEECH!"_**

**_(Atk: 500)_**

"Attack his life points now!"

"What?!" snapped Beast Boy as the monster struck him hard!

**SCORE:**

**_Beast Boy: 7500 VS Shadow King: 8000_**

"Unless you haven't figured it out, my leech is able to attack you even on the first move of the game." hissed the king. "And as for a secondary ability, I just discard one of my cards to switch my leech into defense-mode."

**_(Def: 1200)_**

After just that one turn Beast Boy was already behind, but that wasn't the only thing wrong. Starfire let out a horrified scream from what she had seen, "Beast Boy! Your feet!" she cried

"What about my feet?" Beast Boy asked and when he looked down, he could see that his feet were no longer visible. "Hey! What happened to my feet?"

The king snickered and explained it was his doing to make this shadow game more interesting "You see, as you lose your life points, part of your body vanishes into the darkness around you, and once you lose this match, your body will be completely enveloped allowing me to take it over while your mind wanders through the Shadow Realm forever."

"Does this guy ever say anything original?" Raven asked annoyingly.

Beast Boy felt seriously freaked out with all this shadow magic but he couldn't let the king get to him now. It was his turn "All right, this is it..." he said "I summon **_CRYSTAL BEAST TOPAZ TIGER!"_**

**_(Atk: 1600)_**

"Oh, and by the way, when he attacks, he gains 400 extra attack points, so good luck blocking this one." And Beast Boy ordered his monster to attack, and the leech was destroyed. "Fortunately, my leech was in defense mode, so I don't take damage." hissed the king.

"You think I don't know that?!" snarled Beast Boy "I'll throw down a facedown and end my turn."

"Very well then." The king said as he drew his next card. "Ah, excellent." And he put into play a continuous spell known as **_SPELL SANCTUARY!_**

"I've never seen that card before." said Beast Boy.

The king explained that the new spell card let them each take a spell card out of their decks and put in their hands, and then as long as the sanctuary remained in play, any spell card set would be allowed to be activated like quick-plays.

_"Great, as if I didn't have enough to worry about figuring out his strategy."_ Beast Boy thought as he selected his spell card, and the king got his. "Now that I have, I think I shall play it immediately; **_MONSTER REBORN!"_** and he used it to bring back the **_BRAIN CRUSHER _**that he discarded on his last turn.

**_(Atk: 2400)_**

"And by the way…" said the king "When my new monster destroys a monster on your side of the field, it summoned to my side to join my army."

Beast Boy was already aware of this, but he felt the king was in for a big surprise.

"Now to add to my forced, I summon forth the **_WITCH OF THE BLACK FOREST!"_**

**_(Atk: 1100)_**

Then he ordered his Brain Crusher to attack, but Beast Boy stopped him with a trap; **_G-FORCE! _**It let him special summon one Crystal Beast form his hand and made it the new target, "And I choose this dude, **_CRYSTAL BEAST EMERALD TORTISE!"_**

**_(Def: 2000)_**

The king had no choice now but to attack it, and so his Brain Crusher destroyed it, however, the Emerald Tortoise didn't go to the graveyard, and was instead, encased in a large gem and placed in the spell-trap zone behind the Topaz Tiger. "That's my Crystal Beasts for you." Beast Boy said "They can't be destroyed that easily."

"So I see." remarked the king realizing that his Brain Crusher's effect wouldn't work. "I must say, I am impressed, but now I shall place two cards facedown, and end my turn.

The others felt relieved, so far, Beast Boy was doing all right, but it was still early and the duel had a long way to go. Beast Boy drew his next card, and began to wonder something about the king and the many assortments of monsters he was playing. _"Monster types aren't the only theme strategies a deck can have." _he thought to himself, but right now he had to take it safe.

"I'll place one card facedown, and I summon **_CRYSTAL BEAST AMBER MAMMOTH!"_**

**_(Atk: 1700)_**

"And I think I'm going to give him a little boost with **_CRYSTAL RELEASE!_** And it boosts his attack up by 800."

**_(Atk: 1700) Becomes (Atk: 2500)_**

"And now you can kiss that Brain Crusher of yours, bye-bye! Go, Amber Mammoth."

"I think not!" snapped the king and he played a spell card, **_EARTHQUAKE!_** With it, all the monsters on the field changed into defense-mode, and Beast Boy's attack was stopped. He had no choice but to end his turn. _"What is with this guy?"_ he thought _"He seems to have perfect counter measures for almost every single one of my moves."_

The king could see that Beast Boy was getting edgy. _"Perhaps it's time that I toyed with his mind a little more."_ He thought as he drew his next card and found exactly what he needed. He smiled sinisterly and gazed across at Beast Boy "Tell me, my friend. Do you know what card I have just drawn?"

"Do I look like I know?" snapped Beast Boy.

"My, such a temper." Joked the king "Well then, perhaps I'll let you see it then." He held up the card and slowly turned it around so Beast Boy could see it and when he saw it, he almost forgot how to breathe. It was the very card he had been seeking for such a long time. "The Rainbow Dragon…!"

The others couldn't understand why the king would just show Beast Boy his card, or more importantly why he had it in the first place. They soon got their answer when the king revealed that he was going to give it to Beast Boy, with the help of the spell card in his hand, **_EXCHANGE!_** Now each player had to take a card from the other's hand, and Beast Boy had no choice but to take the dragon as it was the only one the king had.

Beast Boy could hardly believe it "After all this time, all the anxiety. I finally have it!"

The king took a card from BB, and played it right away; _POT OF GREED_, so he could draw two cards, and he drew his own Pot of Greed, so he drew two more cards. "Excellent..." He said. First he switched both his monsters into attack-mode, "And since I'm at it, I shall boost the power of my Brain Crusher with this card, the **_FARIY METEOR CRUSH!"_**

Beast Boy growled "Oh, no, not that one? Now you can take my life points with piercing damage!"

"You are correct…" the king snickered and he ordered his Brain Crusher to crush the Amber Mammoth.

**_(Atk: 2400) VS (Def: 1600)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Beast Boy: 6700 VS Shadow King: 8000_**

"You send my Crystal Release to the graveyard. So I can draw one card now." Beast Boy said.

The king didn't mind and he ordered the witch to destroy the Topaz Tiger, which it did, but as before, both those creatures merely turn into gems and landed on the spell and trap zone.

"Hang in there, Beast Boy!" Robin called out to him.

"You can with this!" cried Starfire.

"Um, Go Beast Boy?" Raven simply said.

The king simply scoffed "You waste your time cheering for your friend. He'll never defeat me."

"We'll see about that." Beast Boy said, _"But actually, from the looks of things I'm not sure what to even think. Why would he give me the card I've been searching for, for so long? I'm pretty sure he's up to something. Should I play this thing, or not…?"_ the frustration was really starting to get to him, just as the king had hoped.

"Don't let him get to you!" Robin shouted.

Beast-Boy ultimately decided it best not to play the dragon just yet and drew his card, and try with what he had. "Okay, dude! I'm playing a field spell card, and here it comes! **_ANCIENT CITY RAINBOW RUINS…!"_**

The roof began to rumble and glow as the massive ruins materialized all around everyone. "I see…" said the king "You intend to use this spell in conjunction with the crystals you have in your spell and trap zones."

"On the nosey…!" Beast Boy said "And since I've got three of them, your spells and traps won't work, but that's not all you have to worry about. Now I summon **_CRYSTAL BEAST SAPPHIRE PEGASUS!"_**

**_(Atk: 1800)_**

"And when he's summoned I can place one Crystal beast form my hand, deck, or graveyard in my spell and trap zone, and I choose to put my **_CRYSTAL BEAST COBALT EGALE!"_**

Now that Beast Boy had four gems, the city ruins let him draw one card. "And now I'll activate my facedown trap card **_CRYSTAL RAGEKI!"_** He used it to destroy one of his gems, he chose his recently added Cobalt Eagle, which let him destroy one card the king had, and so the Brain Crusher was crushed! "Sweet!" cried Beast Boy "Now I hope you're witch is ready for the big one. Go Pegasus, Attack!"

**_(Atk: 1800) VS (Atk: 1100)_**

He finally destroyed the witch, but the king was even sneakier than ever. "Fool, I shall discard **_KURIBOH_** from my hand, so I won't take damage from your attack."

"GAAAH…!" groaned Beast Boy "You've got to be kidding me!" but at least now he finally figured our part of the king's strategy. "And you are correct…" the king said "The way that I have carefully calibrated my cards… the odds of you striking at my life points are not very likely, and furthermore, since you destroyed my witch, I can now take a monster that has a defense of or below 1500 from my deck to my hand."

He chose yet another special monster which he was eager to show Beast Boy "Behold…" he said as he revealed his card which looked like another Rainbow Dragon, only it was black. "What is that thing?" Beast Boy asked.

"You shall see…" hissed the king as he drew his next dark. "Ah and sooner than you think!"

Beast Boy didn't like the sound of that, and neither did the others.

"I have the bad feeling about this." whimpered Starfire.

Robin and Raven agreed, and they hoped Beast Boy was ready for what was coming.

"I shall reveal my facedown spell card…!" snapped the king **_"GIANT TRUNADE!_** And with it, it shall send all spell and trap cards back to our hands."

Beast Boy knew that meant that all his Crystal Gems as well as his field spell would go back to his hand. "Have you forgotten something?" he asked rhetorically "I still have three gems, which means all I do is send Emerald Turtle to the graveyard, and my ancient ruins will stop your spell! So I guess your plan didn't work."

The king laughed "It has worked. You did exactly as I knew you would."

"I what?!" snapped Beast Boy.

The king had forced Beast Boy to use up a gem so that he couldn't block what was coming next. "I activate the spell, **_FUTURE FUSION!"_**

"Ah! Future Fusion?!" cried Beast Boy.

"Future Fusion?" asked Raven.

"What card is that?" added Starfire.

Robin searched through his cards remembering that he had one too. He got it out and according to its instructions, it allowed the king to send respective fusion material monsters straight form his deck to the graveyard, then in two turns the fusion monster would be summoned.

"I see your friends know about this as well." the king teased, and then he sent five different dragons, all dark type from his deck straight to his graveyard, for he was planning to summon an extremely powerful fusion monster.

_"And I bet I know which one it is too!"_ Beast Boy thought.

"And now, the time has come!" shouted the king as the whole field shook vigorously as he raised that dragon card he got earlier. In order to summon it, he had to banish seven dark type monsters form his graveyard, all with different names. "Now, my friend, prepare for the beginning of your end!" shouted the king "As the darkness gathers I call forth the monster known as **_RAINBOW DARK DRAGON!"_**

The gigantic dragon appeared and it roared loudly!

**_(Atk: 4000)_**

"Whoa!" cried Beast Boy "This is so not going to be good!"

**_To Be Continued…!_**


	17. Part 2: Rapidly Fading

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN  
****(Part Two)**

Beast Boy could hardly blink as he gazed up at that huge dragon snarling at him. "That's right; take a good long look." teased the king "With this aid of this glorious monster by my side, you and your crystal beasts will be wishing you had never been born!"

The dragon opened its huge mouth as its power began to build up. "Rainbow Dark Dragon, attack now!"

As the attack struck, and the shockwaves flew past, Beast Boy let out a huge scream!

So loud, that Terra could actually feel and hear it. "Beast Boy?" she cried. Cyborg and Copy Cat heard it to. "I'd recognize that yelp anywhere." Cyborg said "It's him all right."

"It must be. Look over here!" cried Copy Cat. The others dashed over to him and noticed a pair of familiar shoes and parts of a body starting to materialize. It was defiantly Beast Boy; they recognized the shoes and color of the outfit he picked. He was obvious dueling, and there was no guessing that he was facing the Shadow King.

"Do you think he beat him?" asked Cyborg, but just the others, even he had his doubts. Terra faced him upfront and he totally cleaned her out in just a few turns. "I was barely about to even touch him. I hope Beast Boy knows what he's getting into."

The blast continued to wave at Beast Boy as the dragon destroyed his Pegasus.

**_(Atk: 4000) VS (Atk: 1800)_**

Thankfully, Beast Boy still had two crystal-gems in his spell-trap zone, which meant his Rainbow City field spell halved the damage he took to 1100!

**SCORE:**

**_Beast Boy: 5600 VS Shadow King: 8000_**

With his Pegasus gone, now he had three gems, but by this time, his legs had almost vanished completely. "I must admit, you are playing fairly well." the king said "But don't expect that your luck will sustain you. My Rainbow Dark Dragon is still ready for more, and don't forget about my Future Fusion card."

Beast Boy hadn't forgotten and he knew what was coming. For now, the king played the last card in his hand facedown, ending his turn. Now it was Beast Boy's turn. He drew his card and thought deeply. None of his regular monsters had close to the dragon's attack power, which meant his best chance was summoning his own, the Rainbow Dragon, but he still wondered if maybe that was what the king was hoping for. He did give him the card after all.

There was also the matter of the king's facedown card, and knowing the king it was probably a card to shield his life points or stop Beast Boy's strategies. Beast Boy did have three gems, so he could stop the effects of spells and traps, but that would leave him vulnerable to an attack. "UGH…!" he groaned "I think I'm getting a headache here!"

"I know…" laugh the king "Music to my ears as you moan and wail in the anguish of hopelessness."

Beast Boy clenched his fist and decided to just make a move, one that he hoped would worked. "Okay tough guy, I throw down a couple of facedowns, and that'll do it for me."

The others thought Beast Boy had gone crazy. "He didn't even summon a monster." said Raven.

"Why does he not just summon that dragon he was given?" asked Starfire, but Robin reminded her that it was probably what the king was hoping for or why else would he have given it to Beast Boy like that.

Now it was the king's move, he drew his card. "Hmm, interesting…!" He hissed "It doesn't take a lot for me to understand that you're up to something, but I supposed the best way to learn about a trap is to walk straight into it." With that, he ordered his Rainbow Dark Dragon to attack Beast Boy directly.

"You want my trap and here it comes!" Beast Boy shouted "First; here comes the spell **_CRYSTAL PROMISE!_** And it lets me summon one my gems back in monster form. So welcome back Amber Mammoth…!"

**_(Atk: 1700)_**

"And now I'll activate the trap card, **_AMBER CRYSTAL CIRCLE!"_** A very good card for him to use, as it raised his mammoth's attack by the power of the other Crystal Beasts he had in play. Combined with Topaz Tiger and Sapphire Pegasus, Amber Mammoth now had a total of 5100 attack making it stronger! "Mammoth, strut your stuff, and blow that dragon down!"

His mammoth charged straight at the dragon. "Oh, is that the best you can do…?" the king snickered. Without three gems, Beast Boy couldn't stop him from activating his facedown spell, **_MONSTER REINCARNATION!_** It let him discard the only card in his hand in exchange to get a monster form his graveyard and put it in his hand. "I should interest you to know that I did not release all of my dark creatures." He informed Beast Boy as he took back his Witch of the Black forest.

Beast Boy couldn't see much point of that move, until the two monsters stopped where they were and returned to their places. "Dude, what gives?" snapped Beast Boy.

"Hah! You fool!" snarled the king "My moves are never flawed. The card I had exchanged for my witch was **_ELECTRO MAGNETIC TURTLE!"_**

"G'ah…?" groaned Beast Boy when he realized that that card, when sent to the graveyard, had the power to end the battle phase on the same turn, canceling out the attack. Beast Boy angrily in frustration ruffled his fingers through his hair.

Even the others were reaching their breaking point. "What is with this guy?" groaned Robin.

"Is there no way to harm him?" asked Starfire.

"Perhaps there is…" the king teased "Or perhaps I shall continue to demonstrate my masterful skills by showing you the special power of my dragon." With that, he summoned his Witch of the Black Forest, but he didn't keep her around long. By banishing a dark monster, such as her, from the field, his dragon's attack power permanently increased by 500. Now it had 4500 attack points, making it even harder to hit at than ever.

Now it was Beast Boy's turn and his mammoth's power had returned to normal. He drew his next card, but it wasn't exactly what he had hoped for. "I'll throw a monster in defense-mode, and I'll turn Amber Mammoth into defense as well."

**_(Def: 1600)_**

"It really doesn't matter how many defensive monsters you have." The king said as he drew his next card. "For the time has come for me to summon a creature to fight alongside my dragon."

Beast Boy realized that it had been two turns since Future Fusion was played, and the king fused five dragons together. There was only one fusion monster with a fusion requirement like that. The future fusion card was glowing and right next to the other dragon, it appeared; **_FIVE-HEADED DRAGON!_**

**_(Atk: 5000)_**

The others were horrified at the sight of that beast, and even more shocked to learn that the only monsters that could destroy it in battle were Light attributed ones, but hardly any of Beast Boy's monsters were that attribute, or even came close to the attack points.

"Face it, my friend. Your time is running short." snapped the king, and before he called his attack he activate the only card in his hand, **_CARD OF DEMISE_**. So he drew five cards, but would have to lose his entire hand in five turns.

"Now shall place one card face down, and then I think I shall grant my new pet a little present, the **_BIG BANG SHOT!"_** That increased the Dragon's attack power by 400, but also gave it the power to do piercing damage to any of Beast Boy's monsters. "And if you believe that I am finished, I have one more little addition to add to my forces; I summon the **_LORD OF DRAGONS!"_**

**_(Atk: 1200)_**

"AAAH…! Not him too?!" cried Beast Boy. Now the two dragons couldn't be specifically targeted by cards effects, making them practically invincible. "Beast Boy!" cried Robin.

"I cannot watch!" wept Starfire.

Raven could, but she wished she didn't have to.

Since Beast Boy had two gems on his field, the obvious thing to do first was destroy his facedown monster with the Rainbow Dark Dragon. It was a **_CRYSTAL BEAST RUBY CARBUNCLE. _**Its defense was only 300, so it was easily crushed and turned into a gem, which gave Beast Boy three. "Oh boy!" he whimpered in shadow of the massive Five-Headed Dragon.

The king snickered wickedly and ordered it to attack Amber Mammoth!

**_(Atk: 5400) VS (Def: 1600)_**

And with more than two gems, Beast Boy couldn't halve the damage, and took a full force of 3800 points of damage. He roared and screamed as the massive blast shot at him.

**SCORE:**

**_Beast Boy: 1600 VS Shadow King: 8000_**

Plus, the king still had the Lord of Dragons, and attacked him again!

**_(Atk: 1200)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Beast Boy: 400 VS Shadow King: 8000_**

Beast Boy lay flat on the ground, or rather what was left him. He had lost so many life points that all that was left of his body were his hands, and half of one side of his head. He even felt very weak form having lost a lot of energy form the shadow magic. He really didn't feel like he could win this duel. Faced with two extremely powerful dragons, lack of defenses and options, not to mention seriously low on life points while the king's hadn't even been touched!

"Beast Boy…!" Robin called to him "Get up, Beast Boy!"

"Friend…! You cannot give in to him!" cried Starfire.

"Come on!" shouted Raven, but Beast Boy didn't feel as if he could. The king laughed maliciously. "It appears your friend has given up all hope as he should have to begin with. Just look at him. He's almost completely withered away. The shadows will easily be able to feast upon the rest of his body, until he is weak enough for me to conquer."

The others demanded that he let one of them step into the field and take Beast Boy's place, but the king had made it clear before that he had no intention of dueling any of them. Besides, the agreement was that if Beast Boy lost, they all automatically lost.

Was this really it? Had the Titans ultimately failed? Was the Earth truly doomed?!

**_To Be Continued…!_**


	18. Part 3: Duel of the Dragons

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN  
****(Part Three)**

The king was still laughing at Beast Boy who just lay there. The others constantly called out for him to get up, but Beast Boy still lacked his confidence, and he was thinking of all the people he had let down, especially Terra. He kept mumbling her name over and over, and he could almost hear her voice calling to him.

"Beast Boy…! Beast Boy…!"

Most of Beast Boy's was locked away in the Shadow Realm, just enough for Terra to be able to contact with him and actually feel him as he was almost completely materialized before her. "Te… Terra?" he asked all groggy he could hardly see her at all, mainly due to the fact that he was not whole, "Am I dreaming?" but the fact she was actually able to touch him and feel him. It was real. "Terra…! It's you!"

"Hey, don't forget about us." Cyborg said.

"Cyborg…! Copy-Cat…! What's going on around here?"

They quickly explained to Beast Boy, and told him that he had to snap himself out of it and keep dueling. They couldn't get out of this unless the shadow king fell!

Beast Boy knew this but he still didn't feel he could. He was down to just 400 life points and the king hadn't lost any, and it was really hard to get at him. "For once, I just don't think I can make it."

For the first time ever, Terra slapped him on the part of his face that was there. This wasn't her Beast Boy talking. He never gave up before, not even at times when it looked like he had, he just turned right around and kept on going just like the rest of the team.

Copy Cat and Cyborg agreed. Beast Boy was the best duelist of the rest of them, and he taught them all how to play the game. He helped them get this far. "Come on, big guy! If we can do it, so can you…" said Cyborg.

"Yes." agreed Copy Cat "I gave myself up to protect Raven because I knew she would win, and I knew that we would all be saved. Do not prove me wrong, Beast Boy!"

Beast Boy was starting to feel himself coming back, and Terra topped it off reminding him about the baby. She knew her body was in a comatose state and if she remained that way too long, it wouldn't be good.

"You're right. You all are." Beast Boy said "I've got a duel to win!"

The king was ready to move in and take Beast Boy's body when suddenly he bolted upright. "What?!" snapped the king "I don't understand. You should be begging me for mercy!"

"Beast Boy…!" Robin shouted.

"He is standing!" cried Starfire.

"But for how long?" asked Raven.

Beast Boy gazed at the king and sneered "What's your hurry, tough guy? We're not through here yet. As long as I still have life points, anything can happen."

The king growled fiercely as he thought to himself _"It seems I have greatly underestimated this fool. He has a more developed sense of courage and determination than I realized. Well, if he insists on continuing I see no reason to stop him."_

"Very well, let the duel continue!"

**SCORE:**

**_Beast Boy: 400 VS Shadow King: 8000_**

It was Beast Boy's turn, and he drew his card, but since he had four gems, Rainbow Ruins let him draw another card, and he drew a card that really would help him. As much as he had cards that supported his Crystal Beasts, he did have other cards as well. "I play **_DOUBLE SPELL!"_** all he did was discard one spell card, called **_E-FORCE, _**then he activated the King's Giant Trunade spell in his graveyard as if it were his own.

This meant all cards in the spell and trap zone had to be returned to their owner's respective hands. This meant that Beast got all four of his crystal beasts back, but the King lost his cards to. Even the facedown trap he set was gone, and since the Big Bang Shot had left the field, the Five-Headed Dragon had to be removed from play. "All right!" cheered Beast Boy. "There goes my worst problem."

"I can't believe this!" snapped the king "No one has ever defeated my best creatures. No one…!"

"Guess that makes me the first." Beast Boy chirped. "Now, let's make things even more interesting, I play **_CARD DESTRUCTION!"_**

"No! Not that spell!" cried the king. Now he and Beast Boy were forced to discard all six of their cards and draw a fresh hand. "Now that's more like it..." Beast Boy said with a cheeky grin, He then played two cards facedown.

"You waste your time setting yourself up like this." The king said as he drew his next card. I shall place one card facedown, and I summon a dark creature known as, **_THE 13th GRAVE!"_**

**_(Atk: 1200)_**

And as was expected, he banished it to increase his Dragon's attack by another 500, giving it 5000 attack points in total. "Now let's see what you're truly up to. Rainbow Dark Dragon, attack him directly!"

"Beast Boy!" cried Starfire.

"He's going to lose!" yelled Robin.

"Oh, no I'm not." Beast Boy said and he activate one of his facedown traps, **_RAINBOW LIFE! _**All he had to do was discard one card form his hand, and instead of losing life points form the attack, he gained them; 5000!

**SCORE:**

**_Beast Boy: 5400 VS Shadow King: 8000_**

And as he gained back his life points, more than half his body became visible again. "YEAH…!" he shouted for joy "I'm back, baby!"

The others cheered, and even Raven couldn't help but throw her hand up high and shout for joy, also, Beast Boy ready for something big. The card he discarded was his **_CRYSTAL BEAST AMETHYST CAT! _**"It's time!" Beast Boy said "I activate my other trap **_RAINBOW GRAVITY!_** Since I've got seven different crystal beasts chilling in my graveyard, this trap lets me summon the monster I've been waiting for a long time to meet who's also in there!"

Beast Boy's side of the field began to glow with all the colors of the rainbow followed by a very bright flash of light, and suddenly it appeared the monster that Beast Boy had been waiting for such a long time. "Check it out!" cried Beast Boy "The **_RAINBOW DRAGON!"_**

**_(Atk: 4000)_**

The others gazed in awe at the sight of the new monster, but none of them were as excited as Beast Boy "So beautiful!" he cried softly "I've waited so long to me you!" The dragon even gazed down at him and nodded in greeting and acknowledging him.

The king felt this was going to be very interesting "A rainbow dragon going up against its evil counterpart? Why I haven't known such tension for centuries."

"Well then, you're about to feel a load of pain too, from the very card that you gave me." Beast Boy said as he took his turn. The king had two cards face down. He had a hunch they had to be cards that would protect his life points, as that was the main part of his deck strategy, but still, the Lord of Dragons was in play, which meant all dragons couldn't be targeted by spells or traps, even his own. _"I just I hope I know what I'm doing."_ he thought calmly.

"I play the spell **_CRYSTAL BLESSING!"_** with that card he could set two crystal beasts from his graveyard to his spell-trap zone. "Since you gave me the Rainbow Dragon, you know that I can sacrifice these two back to the graveyard, and my Dragon's attack point increase by 1000 for each."

**_(Atk: 4000) Becomes (Atk: 6000)_**

The king just stood with his arms folded "Am I supposed to feel intimidated?" he asked. "Nope, you're going to feel the pain. Let's show him, Rainbow! Attack…!"

"I think not!" the king sneered "Now my trap activates; **_THREATENING ROAR!"_** That trap card gave such a loud and aggravating roar, everyone covered their ears. Now, Beast Boy wasn't allowed to make any attacks on this turn. Beast Boy growled angrily, but at least his dragon was now stronger. "I'll throw down two facedowns and call it a turn."

The king snickered "I am pleased that you got to summon the card I gave you, knowing how long you have pinned for it." He drew his next card, "But now I shall end its life."

"Say what?!" snarled Beast Boy.

"I play the spell **_MAGICAL STONE EXCAVATION!"_** It allowed him to discard two cards from his hand. Then in exchange, he could take one spell card in the graveyard and put it in his hand. "I believe you will recognize it, **_MOSNTER REBORN, _**which I now play to revive a monster that I just discarded; **_GRAVEKEEPER'S CURSE!"_**

**_(Atk: 800)_**

"This also allows me to activate this spell from my hand, **_INFERNO RECKLESS SUMMON!"_**

"Ah…!" gasped Beast Boy, for he remembered that since the gravekeeper was special summoned, now the king was able to summon all the copies of the same monster he had right from his deck, which made two more gravekeeper's appear. Not to mention its special ability drained Beast Boy of 500 life points when it was summoned. Three monsters meant 1500 down the drain!

**SCORE:**

**_Beast Boy: 3900 VS Shadow King: 8000_**

It was a good thing that Beast Boy boosted his life points, but now the king banished his three dark monsters, and powered up his Rainbow Dark Dragon.

**_(Atk: 5000) Becomes (Atk: 6500)_**

"Well, well, our dragons are equal no longer. So, attack my beast!"

"Hold on!" snapped Beast Boy "Go **_WABOKU!" _**now Beast Boy's monsters couldn't be attacked, nor would he take any battle damage.

The king felt outraged and placed two cards facedown, so the acting went back to Beast Boy. He drew his card, and liked what he saw. "Now, let's see you get out of this one." snarled Beast Boy. "I place one card facedown, and I activate my other facedown, **_CRYSTAL COUNTER!"_**

All he had to do was ditch all his spells and traps to the graveyard, such as the one he just set, **_M-FORCE._** Now he got to put as many Crystal Beasts from his graveyard into his spell-trap zone. So he summoned five of them, "And you guessed it, I'm sending them back to the grave so Rainbow Dragon gets a whopping 5000 attack-point boost!"

**_(Atk: 6000) Becomes (Atk: 11,000)_**

"Wow! Eleven-thousand attack-points…? That's just nuts!" cried Raven.

"Let's try this again! Rainbow Dragon attack dark dragon!" shouted Beast Boy.

"Not so fast…!" snapped the king "Activate **_DRAGON CAPTURE JAR!"_** both the dragons were turned into defense-mode, and the Lord of Dragons was powerless to block it.

Beast Boy, stomped his foot angrily and placed a card facedown.

The other Titans could hardly believe this. "Neither of those dragons can be destroyed." said Robin.

"I can hardly take much more of this." cried Raven, while Starfire continued to hope that Beast Boy's dragon would win.

The king drew his next card, and used **_REMOVE TRAP_** to destroy he jar. Then turned his dragon back into attack-mode... He decided no more games, and forced his Lord of Dragon's away, powering up his dragon, and making it now possible for the dragons to go after each other. "The time has come for me to ultimately destroy your great beast!" he snapped at Beast Boy.

"Bring it on!" growled Beast Boy.

"Very well, I shall play the spell card **_RIRYOKU!"_**

Beast Boy gasped at the mention of that card. It let the king take half of the attack power of his Rainbow Dragon, and then feed those points to the Rainbow Dark Dragon.

**_(Atk: 11,000) Becomes (Atk: 5500)_**

**_(Atk: 7000) Becomes (Atk: 12,500)_**

"Say goodbye!" shouted the king as he ordered his dragon to attack, and in defense-modem Beast Boy's dragon had a defense of zero, making it easy to crush.

"Think again!" snapped Beast Boy "I activate my quick-play spell, **_HALF SHUT!"_** and it halved the his dragon's attack power again, dropping it to 2750, and even though the battle continued, Beast Boy's dragon couldn't get destroyed, and in defense-mode he lost no life points.

The king was finally pushed over the edge, and revealed his two trap cards; **_CALL OF THE HAUNTED_**, which he used to bring back his Vampiric Leech, and then **_TWO PROGNED ATTACK_**, he sacrificed both his monsters and destroyed Beast Boy's just like that resulting a huge explosion that shook the field violently.

**_To Be Continued…_**


	19. Final Part: Outsmarted

**_Author's notes:_**

**_I just realized I made a huge mistake. The king owned the Rainbow Dragon originally, so if went to the graveyard it went to HIS not BB's, which means Rainbow Gravity wouldn't work._**

**_We'll just have to let it slide, like I've been letting anime cards and Card Sanctity's anime effect go through. I really do not want to rewrite the whole duel having come this far!_**

**CHAPTER NINETEEN  
****(Part Four)**

The explosions caused a big cloud of smoke, and when the smoke finally cleared. "Look…!" cried Starfire. Beast Boy and the king both struggled to stand upright. Both their fields were now empty, and the duel was still far from over. "Wow!" cried Beast Boy "What a bang?"

The king had never had such a battle before in all the ages he had existed, but he couldn't let Beast Boy win. "You duel well…" he said "No one has ever lasted this long against me."

"Whatever." Beast Boy said "I still got enough spark in me to keep going. I'm not giving up until one of us falls."

"As will I!" sneered the king.

Raven felt her temperature going up and her body was sweating, she actually removed her jacket. "I can barely keep up with this anymore." she groaned.

"I know what you mean." Robin said "Look at those two! They look they're really ready to fight to the death."

**SCORE:**

**_Beast Boy: 3900 VS Shadow King: 8000_**

It was still the king's turn, and all he could do was play one card facedown. His hand was empty, and on Beast Boy's turn, he could only place one card facedown too. Now both their hands were empty, and it was back to the king, but now that five turns were up, he had to discard the card he drew for having played card of demise, but his facedown card he played was **_CARD OF SANCTITY_**, meaning now both and Beast Boy were to draw until they held six cards each.

"I hope you are prepared for more pain. I still have many other surprises waiting in my deck!" the king said. "I shall set one monster down in defense-mode, and end my turn with one card facedown."

Beast Boy felt so hot and tried from the dragon battle he was having a hard time concentrating. _"I just hope I don't have go through something like before again."_ he thought to himself as he drew his card. "I play **_DOUBLE SUMMON_** so now I can summon two monsters this turn; **_CRYSTAL BEASTS SAPPHIRE PEGASUS_** and **_EMERALD TORTOISE!"_**

**_(Atk: 1800)_**

**_(Def: 2000)_**

Beast Boy always carried spares in his deck, and as his monster was summoned he got to place another crystal beast from his deck to his field in gem form. So he chose another Ruby Carbuncle

Then Beast Boy proceeded to attack the facedown monster, which was **_SPIRIT REAPER, _**and it couldn't be destroyed by battle. At least nothing too serious happened, but Beast Boy only wished he knew of a way to get past the king's defenses for good, but he would take no chances this turn, and used Emerald Turtle's power to turn Pegasus into defense-mode to protect it.

The king snickered as he thought to himself _"This fool still hasn't figured on what I am planning. All I require now is to draw the correct card."_ And as luck had it, he drew the very card he needed. "I now activate the spell card, **_POWER BOND!_**" he said, and with it he fused three monsters in his hand…

**_CYBERDARK KEEL_**

**_CYBERDARK HORN_**

**_CYBERDARK EDGE_**

And merging them together, he formed the **_CYBERDARK DRAGON!_** Since it was summoned with Power Bond, its attack instantly doubled.

**_(Atk: 1000) Becomes (Atk: 2000)_**

But the worst part of all was the king could now equip this new monster with one dragon monster in his graveyard and its attack points would be added to its own, and there was only one dragon in his graveyard that he had. "Oh, no!" cried Beast Boy "No way…!"

"Oh, yes." hissed the king as he equipped the Rainbow Dark Dragon to his Cyberdark Dragon. Now Cyberdark Dragon was 4000 attack points stronger for a grand total of 6000. "Man! He's using the very monster I hoped to use against me now."

The king then ordered his monster to destroy Sapphire Pegasus, it was lucky it was in defense-mode or Beast Boy would have had it, but even still. The Cyberdark Dragon was summoned with Power Bond which meant that the king was to take damage equal to his monster's original attack points, but he had a trap to stop that. **_BARREL BEHIND THE DOOR! _**"No!" cried Beast Boy, "That means I take the damage instead!"

**SCORE:**

**_Beast Boy: 2900 VS Shadow King: 8000_**

Beast Boy was more than two thirds faded into the darkness again, and getting worse every turn, and still he hadn't managed to take a single life point away from the king's score. "Poor, pitiful human." the king mocked as he placed his last card facedown ending his turn. "I hope you enjoy your turn, for I promise you, it will be your last!"

The others were growing very annoyed. No matter how hard Beast Boy tried to get at the king, the king always seemed one step ahead, but they kept on cheering for Beast Boy to keep dueling.

There had to be some weakness to the king's strategy. "Just keep playing your cards!" Robin called to him. _"Playing your cards"_ Beast Boy heard that phrase echoing in his head, and he finally realized "Duh! How could I have missed that." Now all he needed to do was draw the right card "Come on!" he groaned as he drew, and it was just what he needed, but it had to be played perfectly or he would ultimately not have a chance to win the duel. "I'll throw down two facedown cards." And he ended his turn just like that."

The others didn't understand why Beast Boy didn't bother to summon a monster on his turn; he was going to need all the defenses that he could get. The king, however, didn't seem to mind at all, especially after he drew his next card and laughed the most evil and wicked laugh he had laughed all duel long. "This is it, my friend! The cards that I now hold will finish you off for good!"

Beast Boy stood ready for anything, and the first card the king played was the spell card **_CREATURE SWAP!_** And he planned to give Beast Boy his Spirit Reaper in exchange for Emerald Tortoise; however, since Spirit Reaper was targeted by a card effect, it was instantly destroyed just like that.

"Beast Boy!" cried Starfire.

"He's wide open again!" added Robin.

"Yes, his is." hissed the king, "And I will ensure that he remains so as well with the aid of my final facedown card **_TRAP STUN!"_** Now he made it so no traps could be activated that turn.

"Man!" cried Beast Boy "I can't stop his attack this turn." he cried

The others were gritting the teeth and clenching their fingers tightly in fear. "The time has arrived!" shouted the king "Emerald Tortoise, attack your former master!"

**_(Atk: 600)_**

"Ah!" groaned Beast Boy as his got hit hard by his own monster.

**SCORE:**

**_Beast Boy: 2300 VS Shadow King: 8000_**

"Cyberdark Dragon…" the king said with an evil glare "FINISH THIS…!"

_"BEAST BOY!"_ the others screamed. Beast Boy screamed even louder as the dragon's massive energy blast hit him resulting in a large explosion.

Terra Copy Cat and Cyborg could actually hear him screaming. "Beast Boy!" cried Terra.

Copy Cat felt a shiver run through him "Has he…? Tell me he has not…"

"Ah, man! He can't have?" cried Cyborg.

Terra began to feel tears of shame and fear coming to her eyes, but she turned to face the part of Beast Boy that was materializing near them "Guys! Look at this…!" she cried. The others turned and could see for themselves.

The smoke still hadn't cleared yet, but everyone had assumed the worse. The king laughed maliciously. "It's over!" he announced "Victory is mine, and your friend is no more. Long live the shadows, the darkness- long live it all!"

"Beast Boy!" sobbed Starfire as she cried into Robin's shoulder. "No!" Raven said trying not to sob "He can't be gone!"

Robin held them both close to him and almost felt ready to give in to his own emotions, when suddenly he looked up. "Hey!" he cried "Look there, in the smoke. Do you see what I see?"

"What?!" the king snapped as gazed into the clearing smoke, and sure enough. "It can't be!"

"Beast Boy!" cried Starfire

"He's still there!" added Raven. He was barely there at all, just the tips of his hands, and the right side of his face and head.

**SCORE:**

**_Beast Boy: 300 VS Shadow King: 8000_**

"Impossible!" yelled the king "You can't have survived that last attack!"

"Yeah…! Well I did!" snapped Beast Boy "And it looks like you fell for my own trap."

He explained that his trap was different…

He knew the king's strategy was making it so his life points never got touched, but the only way he could actually do that was to have cards to play. The more he dueled, the more cards he used up, and the second part of his strategy involved blocking and negating attacks and effects. The king had also been acting very overconfident all game long and that was what gave Beast Boy the key to trick him!

Beast Boy had a feeling that if he had three facedown cards, the king would foolishly assume that Beast Boy was trying to trap him, but what he didn't realize was that one of the cards wasn't a trap, but in fact, **_MYSTICAL SPACE THYPHOON, _**which wasn't affected by the Trap Stun, and Beast used it to quickly destroy the Rainbow Dark Dragon, as it was treated as an equip card, and therefore reduced Cyberdark Dragon's attack to 2000 before it hit him, leaving Beast Boy with a few life points to spare.

The king realized that indeed his dragon was gone, and also he now no longer had any cards in his hand or on the field to try and play. "No! This can't be!" he growled. He saw no choice but to use Emerald Tortoise power and turn his Dragon into defense mode.

"Oh, it is!" Beast Boy said as he drew his next card "Hoped you enjoyed your last move, because now, I know the perfect way to defeat you- in duel monsters, we call this, a One-Turn-Kill."

He started by activate a replica of a trap he played previously, **_RAINBOW GRAVITY!_** "Oh no…!" cried the king "That means…!"

"You bet…" Beast Boy said "I got seven crystal beasts in my graveyard, so I get to bring back that very card that you gave me; **_RAINBOW DRAGON…!"_**

**_(Atk: 4000)_**

The king couldn't help but scream at the sight of the very card he regretted giving to Beast Boy now. "But wait, I'm not through yet!" snarled Beast Boy "I activate my other facedown card, **_GEM-BURST!"_** Beast Boy had G-Force, E-Force, and M-Force in his graveyard, so his new spell let him put as many crystal beasts from his hand in gem form on his field. There was just enough room for two. So he set Topaz Tiger, and Amber Mammoth, and because of this, for every gem he had, the king lost 500 life points. "And that's 2000 right there!"

The king growled miserably as his score fell for the first time.

**SCORE:**

**_Beast Boy: 300 VS Shadow King: 6000_**

The other were jumping for joy and cheering Beast Boy on. He turned back to them and, rather half smiled due to his face being half there. "And now, it's time for my very last card, which happens to be a **_CRYSTAL PROMISE!"_** and just like the last time it let him special summon on of his gems in monster form, and he chose his Ruby Carbuncle!

**_(Atk: 300)_**

"And since she was special summoned, that means I get to bring back all my gems in monster form!"

The king's eyes widened "But, this means…!" and it did, all of Beast Boy's monster zones were full. "Time to clean up!" shouted Beast Boy, and he ordered his Amber Mammoth to destroy Cyberdark dragon, which it did with ease. "No…!" shouted the king. Then Beast Boy ordered Sapphire Pegasus to destroy Emerald Tortoise. He hated to destroy his own beast, "But he's taking one for the team!"

**_(Atk: 1800) VS (Atk: 600)_**

**SCORE:**

**_Beast Boy: 300 VS Shadow King: 4800_**

"This can't be happening!" the king shouted "Nobody defeats the king of shadows! NOBODY…!"

"Time to shut you up for good…!" Beast Boy shouted as his remaining monsters stood ready, with more than enough combined power to finish the job. "DO IT…!" and all the monsters fired their attacks at the king hitting him over and over,

**FINAL-SCORE:**

**_Beast Boy: 300 VS Shadow King: "0000"_**

"HE DID IT!" cried Robin.

"WE HAVE WON!" shouted Starfire.

For the first time ever, even Raven had to jump and scream for joy.

The evil spirit of the shadow king left Henry's body, groaning and wailing as beams of light shone through his form and he exploded into a-million sparks of light, which forced Beast Boy to fall over and fall unconscious, while the big white whole appeared in the center of shadowy skies and began to suck up all the darkness, as the monsters all over exploded and millions of white comets, the souls of everyone who had been captured, fell from the skies and returned to their rightful body.

The last of the darkness was sucked into the vortex, which then shattered in a small burst of smoke. The nightmare was truly over!


	20. Sur Prize

**CHAPTER TWENTY**

All over the world, the comatose people were starting to awaken, and the hospitals were empty again as the people returned to their families and went back to their normal lives, but many were still very baffled by what had happened, and some hardly even remembered much.

Beast Boy could hear the others calling to him, and he woke up and saw Raven Robin and Starfire, and they all looked back to normal, and when he gazed down at his own hands, he realized they were green again. "You did it, Beast Boy!" said Robin, and Starfire crushed him one of her big hugs. "Oh, friend…! You are truly the hero of the day!"

"Um… thanks…!" Beast Boy groaned. Starfire then realized she was crushing him with her strength returned, and let him go. Raven thanked him too, but now that her powers were back, she had to hold it in. "Thanks." she simply said.

"Whatever." Beast Boy said, but he suddenly remembered, and got to his feet and there she was standing at the door with Cyborg and Copy Cat. "Terra…!" he cried. His wife smiled and tears were rolling down her cheek. They ran towards one another, but her large stomach bonked him out of the way. "Oops!" she cried "Sorry."

Raven ran into Copy Cat's arms, and he twirled her round and around happily. Cyborg playfully felt left out "Everyone's happy to see me I guess." Everyone then gazed at him "Ah, what the heck…" Cyborg said in his usual macho voice.

The others all laughed, but then they realized that Henry was still unconscious, and the kids were still in the sickbay. "We better get them to a hospital." Robin said.

Soon they made it, and the doctor was pleased to say that the kids would make fine recoveries, and Henry had awoken, but he didn't seem to remember much. "All I remember was a voice calling out to me, and then everything went blank." But after being told about what had happened, he felt very regretful, but the Titans explained that it wasn't his fault, and it was over now.

Even Von-Richter, who had recovered from his attack, and was called up on the communicators, was more than understanding for his friend. _"By zee vay…" _he asked _"Ve're are Garfield and Terra?"_

The two of them had asked for Terra to be examined to determine if her pregnancy was okay, and at that very moment they came into the room, both with mushy-gushy smiled on their faces. "The baby is fine?" Starfire asked with glee.

Beast Boy nodded and said that they were _both_ fine.

"Both?" asked Cyborg "Are you sayin'…?"

Terra giggled and nodded, and it turned out that they had also received the results of the pregnancy tests they asked for and why Terra was feeling strange. When Terra was first tested for her pregnancy, the files got mixed up by mistake; Terra was in fact pregnant with twins! One boy and one girl…!

"That's awesome. All right!" cheered Robin.

"Oh, I am so happy for you." cried Starfire.

Everyone else congratulated the couple, but none were as happy as Beast Boy. He helped save the world; his wife was having twins, which meant he'd had have to build another crib, but also… he had finally gotten the card he had been waiting for such a long time. The Rainbow Dragon which Henry let him keep as a reward for saving him.

Once back at home, Beast Boy kept ogling the card and then put it back in his deck which he now was proud to call complete. "My quest is over." he said with pride. His wife smiled as she came over to sit near him on the sofa. With all the adventure behind them now they could focus on the arrival of their babies in less than a month.

In the meantime, the others had taken quite a fancy to the duel monster's game, and were playing against each other at the table. It felt nice to play for fun, and not as dangerous now that the cards didn't come to life anymore. "Yo' guys…" Cyborg called "Why don't you come over and join us. I'll play you two on one."

"Nah, count me out." Beast Boy said "I think I've had it with dueling for a while."

"Yeah, I think my luck's run out too." said Terra. They preferred to just sit on sofa and enjoy each other's company. "There goes the old Earth saying…" Copy Cat said "Unlucky at cards; lucky in love. It is your move Raven."

"Oh, I'll move…" his lady-friend snickered "And I summon Exodia! Guess you lose…"

"I do not believe it!" Copy Cat choked playfully, and he and everyone else chuckled.


End file.
